I'll Take it Shaken, Not Stirred
by Jewels5
Summary: Mix: 1 portion each of mystery, mayhem, and murder. Add: James, Lily, spies, school, and sarcasm. Stir in: 1 tablespoon each of chaos and enmity. Blend using: sense of humor and ability to read. Serve: shaken, not stirred...
1. Somewhere Between Fairytales

_Note From the Cook:_ hey guys! I'm back! For all of you who don't know me, I'm Jewels the Mary-Sue Slayer. Muahahahahaha! Anyhow, for those who DO know me: I deleted all my old stories because I decided I didn't like them. Such is life. Reviews are lovely, flames are inevitable, and constructive criticism is ideal.

_Origins of the Recipe:_ the following dish is a take-off of great work prepared by Ms. J.K. Rowling.

_One More note from the cook:_ okay, here's the thing. Besides Mary-Sues, there's another thing I really hate: underdeveloped, lovesick, and otherwise just boring James. James Potter is probably the most jipped character in fan fiction. His one role always seems only to be pining over Lily. If I were Sirius, Remus, Peter, or just about anyone else, I wouldn't hang out with him. So there will be no James sitting around pining constantly in this. He gets to have a little more fun than that...

_Complete Summary of the Recipe: _**Mix:** one portion each of James, Lily, confusion, sarcasm, secrets, crazy friends, mystery, and wonky spells. **Stir in:** one tablespoon each of chaos and enmity. **Blend using: **sense of humor (solid) and the ability to read English. **Garnish with: **dark times, war, assassination, changes of heart, Coca-Cola, Fritos, death eaters, traitors, Voldemort (shudder), more sarcasm, romance (don't overdo it!), rolling of eyes, chocolate, Quidditch, and (if anyone gets around to it) homework. **Serve:** shaken, not stirred...

_Cookies to whoever reviews!_

_Chapter 1- Somewhere Between Fairytales..._

(a.k.a. The Boy in the Fire)

"_...Life is much more successfully looked at through a single window..."_

_-The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Once upon a time, in a land not far away, in a time not long ago, there was a perfectly normal house, on a perfectly normal street, in a perfectly normal town, in a perfectly normal country. Or so it would seem.

In said house, lived a family. It was not a large family, and it was not a large house, but it wasn't a small house either. There were four bedrooms, two baths, a smallish kitchen, a small basement, and a smaller attic. It was a tidy house, with nothing about it or its inhabitants that would imply to the naked eye that anything extraordinary (by the standards of the neighbors) would ever happen there. It wasn't the type of house to be involved in a fairytale at all, or so it would seem.

In this house, lived the Evans family.

Mr. Benedict Evans was a writer for the newspaper, and he did most of his work in the spare bedroom, which doubled as his office. He was a tall, handsome man in his early forties, and had (for what very little it may be worth) played a mean football game when he was younger. But that was long past.

Mrs. Anna Evans was a kindergarten teacher, and she also worked at home in what she described as a job ten times more difficult than her husband's. She took care of her youngest daughter. Mrs. Evans was tall and slim, and moved with an enviable grace and refinement. Mrs. Evans was, for lack of a better description, beautiful.

Petunia Evans was the oldest girl, but she no longer lived in the un-extraordinary Evans house. When she turned twenty-one, she moved away to a flat in Surrey. Petunia had the build of her mother, but not the grace. Her hair was short and ash-blonde, and her eyes were steely grayish blue.

And that left Lily.

Lily Evans still lived at the Evans house, but only for the portion of the year when she was not away at boarding school. Lily too had the build of her mother without the perfect posture and movement (though hers were hardly lackluster). Her hair was a bright ginger color, but she didn't know whose "fault" that was. Her mother's strawberry blonde (more blonde than strawberry) hair was the closest thing to it that she knew of. Lily's eyes were the features she liked best about herself, however. They were large, almond shaped, and a bright jade green, similar to Mrs. Evans's. Of all the Evanses, Lily was the oddest.

In addition to being the sole real redhead in her immediate family, Lily was a witch. Nine months out of the year Lily spent at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily did not think of her life as a fairytale, nor her house as a palace, nor her boyfriend as a knight in shining armor, not herself as a damsel in distress. And perhaps, on some accounts, she was right. But that depended on one's definition of the "fairy" in the fairytale.

On the particular morning where this story begins, seventeen-year-old Lily was preparing to return to Hogwarts. It was September the first at last.

True to man's fallen nature, Lily had waited till the morning of departure to pack. It was seven o'clock, with three hours until she had to leave for Kings Cross. She was in her bedroom, bending over the large black trunk that lay on her bed, as she folding clothes neatly inside.

Lily's bedroom was very "eleven-year-old girl," but it was a very good "eleven-year-old girl." The walls were a reddish sunset color, and there were at least four lava lamps in various spots around the room. The doors to the outer hallway and to the closet were beaded, as well as the window "curtains." The last time Lily had had this room redecorated had been, of course, when she was eleven, just before she got her letter of acceptance to Hogwarts. Her first ever Hogwarts letter.

The seventh Hogwarts letter Lily had ever received was lying on the dressing table, the seal broken, and a smooth golden badge glistening in the reflections of one of the lava lamps and the sun, which shined faintly through the beaded curtains. On the badge were the two words: "Head Girl."

A nonsensical, yet incredibly catchy Simon and Garfunkel song played in the background on Lily's dated record player, and the young witch quietly sang along. Her voice wasn't bad either, but she was hardly Linda Ronstadt. Also playing in the background was the sound of Mr. Evans's typewriter, for his office was the room next door to Lily's, and he was always up early writing. When Lily paused and listened, she could here from down the hallway her mother frying bacon for Lily's going away breakfast. It was so like Mrs. Evans to get up early and make a large breakfast.

As she finished folding her favorite sweater, Lily automatically swept a lock of wavy ginger hair out of her face, and glanced over at the shiny badge on the bed stand. She couldn't help but smile proudly. _She was Head Girl!_ In the flurry of excitement that surrounded the end of Lily's sixth year at Hogwarts, she had entirely forgotten that over the summer holidays Professor Dumbledore (headmaster of Hogwarts) would be selecting a Head Boy and Girl. She hadn't remembered, in fact, until the Hogwarts letter had arrived two weeks before, including a supply list, a letter of congratulations, and a badge.

If, as she looked over clothes in her closet, Lily wondered who the Head Boy would be, she was not particularly worried. She had great faith in Albus Dumbledore and the Hogwarts Staff. For the most part. Adelaide Grossman, the Herbology teacher, was an obvious exception. She was the bane of half of Hogwarts' existence: Lily included.

Lily glanced over a brown leather belt, debating with herself for a moment as to whether or not to bring it along. She decided not to bring it, because she doubted there would be use for it, and the phrase "better safe than sorry" was (as far as Lily was concerned) clichéd and not entirely true. Whether she was right on this account or not can't be determined.

The Simon and Garfunkel record ended, and Lily regretfully took it off the player and put it in its case. At Hogwarts, devices like record players or televisions didn't really work, and muggle (non-magical) music was one of the things Lily really missed from her home. Still, Lily got most of her daily music fix at Hogwarts with the music her friends had grown up listening to. "Artemus's Arrow" and "Snitch Snatch" were Lily's favorite wizard bands.

Throwing the last articles of clothing she needed (or wanted) into the trunk, and packing the school robes she would change into later into a carry-on bag, Lily collapsed on the unoccupied part of her bed. She had been more thoughtful the past summer than Lily had ever remembered being- and that included the time in third year that she had to chose her classes for the first time. Tomorrow she would be starting classes for her final year at Hogwarts. After that, she would be on her own.

Technically, "on her own" was not entirely accurate. She would have her friends, and she would have the man who had put the turquoise ring on her right middle finger. Lily smiled as she glanced at it. It was a beautiful, perfect ring and it represented a beautiful, perfect relationship. Elijah Trent was the closest thing to perfect that Lily ever remembered meeting, with the possible exclusion of her mother. But that was different.

Yet even the support of Elijah Trent could only go so far. He would not be at Hogwarts this year, for he was a year older than Lily and had graduated the year before. At the moment, he was working for the Ministry of Magic, and this made Lily even more apprehensive. Elijah was so successful already. He was only eighteen and had only started work a few months before, but his career looked like it was going to go far. This left more pressure on Lily. She had good grades, admittedly, and Professor McGonagall- during career advice two years previously- had said her grades would allow almost any career she desired. But what if...?

"You packed yet Lily?" came the call of Mrs. Evans from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mum," replied Lily.

"Petunia's coming in an hour, so make sure you're ready by then..."

Lily groaned.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Mum, nothing..."

Sighing and rolling over on her small portion of free bed, Lily mentally slapped herself for forgetting. Petunia and Vernon would be coming. Vernon Dursley was Petunia's live-in boyfriend. They weren't married (both being very career oriented and not thinking it entirely necessary), but Mrs. Evans always wanted them to be. For other reasons, or else simply because she wanted to be a mother-of-the-bride, Mrs. Evans constantly hinted at Petunia. Though Lily's relationship with Elijah could be considered "serious," they weren't by any means engaged.

Lily climbed off her bed and crossed to the vanity. She picked up a brush and ran it through her hair, staring with dissatisfaction at her mirror image. The same reflection as ever stared back. The same ginger hair fell just past her shoulders. The same green eyes sparkled in the lava-lamp lighting. The same fair, thin face looked the same as ever, except there was a touch of red in her cheeks from excitement. The same half a dozen freckles were splashed on the same small, strait nose. It was a pretty face. Lily didn't like it.

She pulled down a red and silver make-up box from the shelf next to the mirror and glanced in the mirror on the open lid. Photographs surrounded it. They were mostly wizard pictures, because the subjects were not stationary as in muggle pictures; rather they were waving, smiling, winking, and making faces at her from their paper worlds.

Lily smiled reminiscently at the picture in the right corner; it was a picture of Elijah and her, sitting on the grass under a tree with his arms around her. Just below it was a mug shot of a brown-haired fifteen-year-old girl with a round, cheerful face, and soft brown eyes. Just below _that_ was a muggle picture of Lily's family. It was an old picture- taken before Lily had entered Hogwarts, when she and her sister were still on good terms. Lily was still short and bony in this picture, and her then violently red hair was still cut in a bob.

On the opposite side of the mirror was another wizard picture. It was of seven people, all wearing scarlet and gold robes and holding broomsticks in hand. They were grinning and waving, looking flushed and wind-blown. It was from Hogwarts's Quidditch Cup the year previously. Covering the lower half of the Quidditch picture was a wizard photo of three males. One had red hair and freckles, another had sandy brown hair, a long, pale face, and the other was an exceptionally handsome sixteen-year-old, with neat black hair and smirking grey eyes. Though one wouldn't guess it at first, the last was only in Lily's make-up box by chance that he was in a picture with the other two. Below that picture were just two more. One was a scene of a fairy-tale-esque castle: Hogwarts. The other was of two girls of sixteen. One was an Asian girl with long black hair and thin-rimmed square glasses, and the other was a pretty girl with blue eyes, honey colored hair, and a suntanned face. They had their arms on each other's shoulders, and they were grinning up at Lily. The blonde girl winked.

Whenever Lily opened this make-up box, she would look over the pictures and remember the times they had been taken. When she had finished her trip down memory lane, however, she sorted through a good deal of make-up that she had never used, and probably never would. Finally she located the bare necessities (eye-liner and lip gloss- she lived in mortal terror of foundation and mascara) and began to apply them.

It didn't take Lily long to finish, and when she was done, she put the make-up away, closed the box, and placed it in her trunk. She gave a final scrutinizing look around the room, to make sure she had everything she needed already packed. Then, feeling somewhat satisfied, Lily shut up her trunk, locked it, and exited through the beaded door down the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Morning Lily," said Mrs. Evans, looking up at her daughter's entrance before returning to the breakfast she was preparing.

Lily came over to her mother and put her arm around her waist. "You don't need to do all this," she said gratefully.

"I know," said Mrs. Evans, and she kissed Lily on the forehead. There had been a time when Mrs. Evans could easily kiss her daughter on the top of her red-haired head, but since Lily's growth spurt a few years before, the younger was now the taller.

"Don't over-do it, Mum," she added, eying the piles of bacon that had already been fried.

"I'm not."

"You made French toast."

"Well there's not much in that..."

"And pancakes."

"So?"

"For five people..."

"I'll manage," said Mrs. Evans carelessly, "now go sit down. If I need help I'll draft your father." Mother and daughter listened for a moment to the sound of Mr. Evans's typewriter.

"Good luck with that one, Mum," said Lily, raising an eyebrow, but she sat down at the kitchen table anyway.

"So you're entirely finished packing?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Yep," said Lily, "except for all the stuff that I've forgotten and that I'll send an owl back for within a week."

"Well of course besides that," said Mrs. Evans, shaking her strawberry head and smiling. Lily grinned and looked carelessly down at the newspaper on the table. The headline and picture startled her.

"Mystery Woman Found Dead in River. Cause of Death: Unknown."

Lily quickly shoved the newspaper under several magazines. It was bad enough reading about It in _The Daily Prophet _(the biggest wizard newspaper in Britain) without having to read about It in the muggle newspapers as well. But they all reported it. Perhaps the muggles didn't fully understand it, but Lily knew they weren't stupid. They could tell something was up, though she also knew that very few muggles really saw what.

The woman in the picture- whoever she was- had undoubtedly (in Lily's opinion) been a witch. Her body had not been so mangled that an autopsy would have been unable to identify her. The fact was, according to the muggle government, that woman didn't exist. It was the case with many witches and wizards of magical descent, though Lily was not one of them. Since her parents were non-magical, and she had not discovered that she was a witch until she was eleven, Lily officially existed. There was something somewhat comforting about that.

What was uncomforting was that picture in the newspaper. Lily knew who the killer was- every wizard in Europe (probably most outside as well) knew who the murderer was. The newspaper recalled to mind a story Lily had read years ago in _The Daily Prophet_. It had quoted him. "I am Lord Voldemort" he had said; after that, most wizards were too afraid to say the name. "You-Know-Who" had become the more common term for him. Lily thought this was borderline ridiculous, and the sound of the replacements invoked more fear in her than "Voldemort" itself did.

"Lily? Earth to Lily..." Mrs. Evans was saying, bringing Lily back to reality.

"S-s-sorry... what did you say?"

"I asked you if would get your dad- I need him to make the waffles..."

"You're making waffles too?"

"Why not?"

"You have French toast, waffles, bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes so far, Mum. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were celebrating my return to school."

"Don't talk rot," said Mrs. Evans, disregarding her daughters slyness with a wave of her thin hand, "if we are celebrating, it's only your Head Girl-ship. Now go find your Dad and finish getting ready. Petunia and Vernon will be here soon..."

It turned out, however, that Petunia and Vernon did not arrive until eight o'clock. This being the appointed time to arrive, Lily was not surprised, but in the preceding ten minutes, Mrs. Evans grew impatient to see her oldest daughter. Lily was less so, because though she and her older sister didn't always get along, the matter of Vernon Dursley only made things worse.

However when eight o'clock did roll around, it found Lily deeply involved in a book in the sitting room, Mrs. Evans making sure that everything was "just so", Mr. Evans giving a critical eye to the waffles he himself had prepared, and Petunia Evans and Vernon Dursley knocking on the front door. Lily, being in the sitting room, which was directly connected to the entryway, was the one who disrupted her occupation to answer the door.

Petunia was standing on the steps, looking the same as ever except she had yet another new haircut. Lily had only seen her sister twice the whole summer holiday, and Vernon only once. Vernon was standing a little behind Petunia, looking supercilious. Either by some idea planted in his head by his girlfriend, or else by his own nature, Vernon did not particularly like Lily. The feeling was entirely mutual, which meant that either the two would all out start physically fighting, or else they would remain coldly civil towards each other. So far, it had been entirely the latter.

"Hello Petunia; hello, Vernon," said Lily distantly, standing aside so that the two could enter the house.

"Hello Lily," said Petunia, with less coldness than usual. Lily suspected it was due to the fact that they hadn't had so many forced meetings lately.

"Lily," said Vernon simply, nodding his head.

Mrs. Evans came into the entryway. "Petunia! Vernon!" she hugged them both quickly (dwelling slightly more on her daughter) and invited them into the kitchen. Mrs. Evans was an extremely warm personality, and if it weren't for the frequent sarcasm in Mr. Evans, Lily would've wondered how she and Petunia could be the offspring of a woman like their mother.

Vernon and Petunia entered the kitchen, gave their hellos to Mr. Evans, who was frying eggs now, and sat down at the prettily arranged kitchen table.

"Go sit down and talk to your sister, Lily," Mrs. Evans whispered in her youngest daughter's ear, as Lily attempted to help her father with the eggs. Lily glared slightly at her mother, before sitting down across from her sister and her sister's boyfriend.

There could be very little doubt about which Evans daughter was the prettier. Petunia, though not ugly, had a hard, pointed face. Her whole manner implied that something disgusted her- much the opposite of Mrs. Evans. Her build was similar to what Lily's had been at the age of eleven- bony (though Lily had been exceptionally short until she was at least thirteen and Petunia was quite tall)- and her neck seemed to be very long. The off-the-shoulder white smock that Petunia presently wore didn't really help the affect to make her neck seem shorter either.

As far as personality went, one either loved Petunia, or loathed her. Lily seemed to be the only person on the planet who was caught in between.

Lily fidgeted with bell sleeve of her green blouse, before looking up at the two who sat before her. They both stared hard at her.

"So..." began Lily uncomfortably, "how has your summer been?"

"Fairly good," said Petunia succinctly. She straitened a rose in the table's centerpiece.

"Anything exciting happen?"

"Vernon got a promotion."

"Really? What's your job now?" Lily bit back a 'what boring and utterly pointless job do you have now?' How could someone possibly work at a building that made drills and feel complete? It wasn't as if he made the drills himself! _'Then again,_' Lily thought fairly, '_some things just get different people going...'_

"He's a supervisor," said Petunia, as if protecting her boyfriend from having to speak to the "freak" little sister. This was exactly the point of view the older girl held of the younger- as far as Lily could see.

"Really? What does that involve?"

"Supervising."

From the mouth of anyone else, this would've been amusing sarcasm, but Petunia was dead serious.

"I see," said Lily slowly, "what about you, Petunia? How's work been going?" Lily noticed her mother throw her a grateful glance.

"Oh fine," said Petunia, and there was something of interest in her voice; it was probably the change of topic. "I got an important job on the Haynes Estate... they're having a party next month and they want me to redecorate it before then."

Petunia was an "interior decorator."

There wasn't much conversation after that until breakfast started, when Mrs. and Mr. Evans found themselves deep in conversation with Vernon and Petunia. Lily ate more or less in silence, but she observed a good deal. For example, she saw that her father was pretending to be far more interested than he was and that her mother occasionally gave the couple an apprehensive glance. Of course, Lily had observed these sort of things in the past.

By the time Lily had burrowed through her bacon and eggs, and was just starting to worry about her pancakes, everything had gone smoothly and without incident. Petunia, in fact, seemed warmer to her than usual. It was as Lily cut her first bit of pancake that the first signs of trouble appeared.

Vernon must have noticed something in Mr. Evans's eyes during their conversation, and he must have mistakenly construed it for disapproval. After a minute or two of thoughtful silence, which no one except Lily noticed, Vernon drew the conclusion that the only matter concerning himself that Mr. Evans could find dissatisfying was his cold shoulder to the younger Evans girl.

Young Mr. Dursley did not know of Lily's abilities in the slightest. All he knew was that Petunia disliked her younger sister, that she didn't think much of her friends either, and that she was (in Petunia's words anyway) a bit of a "freak." But these thoughts did not enter into Vernon's head at all as he sat anxiously hoping for the approval of all. He did, after all, have an important announcement to make this morning. The only thing he thought of was impressing Mr. Evans, so he did what he thought was necessary.

"You're still in school, aren't you?" he grunted to Lily. At first, she didn't have the faintest idea who he was talking to, but when she saw all eyes on her, she started and said:

"I-I-I'm sorry...? What was that?"

"Are you still in school?" Vernon repeated.

Lily was even more startled. She gave a nervous glance at Petunia, who had gone deathly white and was staring at her hard and bitterly. Lily had had a bad history with some of Petunia's past boyfriends. Lily thought her sister had the right to be annoyed that a boyfriend from two years ago had tried to flirt with Lily when he came to visit, and that her dance date had asked if he could meet Petunia at the dance when he learned that Lily was away at school, but Lily didn't see why Petunia blamed _her_ for this. Well, even if she did see why, she didn't think it was fair.

"Oh... er... yes I am," said Lily, a bite of pancake falling from her fork.

"What school do you go to?"

"I... er... um..."

Petunia shook her head to her sister as inconspicuously as possible, signaling that Vernon didn't know of Lily's "abnormality;" Lily was well aware of this fact and thought quickly.

"I go to a boarding school in the North," she said shakily.

"I thought _Helene's Academy_ was in the London..." Vernon said slowly, "That's where Petunia went, wasn't it?"

"Lily doesn't go to Helene's," said Mrs. Evans hastily, "she goes to..."

"Saint Claire's Academy for Young Ladies," threw in Petunia.

"And that's in...?"

"Liverpool," finished Lily.

"Oh yes- my younger cousin attends Claire's..." said Vernon thoughtfully; Lily's eyes widened. "She doesn't think much of it, though. Perhaps you know my cousin... her name is Jane Smi..."

"I don't know any of the younger girls very well," Lily interrupted.

"She's sixteen..."

"I only know the girls in my year by name," was the quick lie response.

"I see," said Vernon nodding, "But you know, I thought Claire's Academy started in mid-August."

There was an uncomfortable pause, while everyone thought. Then something rather awkward happened. Each member of the Evans family simultaneously spit out separate excuses for Lily's absence from the first two weeks of school. They varied from a paperwork mix up to Lily's "broken ankle" which had apparently only been recently healed.

Vernon gave them all looks that questioned their sanity, and Petunia grew paler. Lily fought a laugh- for some reason unbeknownst to her she found the situation extremely funny- and tried to compose herself while gulping coffee. Mr. and Mrs. Evans gave each other apprehensive and meaningful glances. Even Vernon noticed something going on.

"Er... do you enjoy school?" he asked quizzically.

"Very much."

"Is Professor Bradshaw good?"

"Oh excellent."

"Really?"

"Yes, she's quite nice."

"He."

"I'm sorry?"

"_He's _quite nice you mean... Professor _Joseph _Bradshaw..."

"Oh yes, that's what I mean. Your cousin certainly keeps you very informed."

"She talks constantly."

Petunia gave Lily a look that said quite clearly: "End this damned conversation." Lily, who was not at all comfortable, tried to comply by not saying anything. Yet Vernon still noticed a look in Mr. and Mrs. Evans's eyes and misconstrued it to be satisfaction, so he continued in his drilling of Lily. He was also growing curious.

"Do you like Liverpool?" he asked.

"I don't get around it much actually," Lily said quite truthfully.

"My cousin says she goes on regular outings."

"I don't like the city."

"You stay at the school all day?"

"Yes."

"Do you like that?"

"Terribly."

"Really now?"

"Yep."

"Petunia loves the city."

"I know."

"How odd that you don't."

The somewhat strained conversation waned for a moment, and Petunia temporarily thought she was saved. The feeling soon vanished.

"What's your favorite subject in school?" Vernon continued on to ask.

"Charms."

"_What?_"

It had been an automatic answer, and now Lily was going to have to pay the price for habit. She bit her lip and stammered, "I m-m-mean... _Charm_ class. It's a sort of etiquette and grace class, y'know?" Lily got up to clear her plate in hope to postpone the conversation.

"Lily's very graceful you know," said Mrs. Evans, smiling slightly.

_SMACK!_

Everyone jumped. They turned to see Lily, who had tripped over something (most likely her own foot) and only saved herself from falling flat on her face by grabbing the kitchen counter. Mrs. Evans ran a hand through her short hair nervously, Mr. Evans smirked into his coffee, and Petunia covered her gray eyes with her hands.

"I see," said Vernon awkwardly. He wasn't _entirely_ thickheaded, and even he could see that something was up here. He gave his girlfriend a curious glance and she returned it with an "I'll tell you later" sort of look. Much to everyone's satisfaction, Vernon seemed contented to leave the severely lacking conversation at that, and the party ate in silence for at least two minutes.

Mrs. Evans broke it first with something about furniture directed to Petunia, then Mr. Evans spoke to both Vernon _and_ Petunia about business, but Lily staid out of these conversations. She had finished with her pancakes and was observing the whole table as she sipped coffee, when a sudden "pop" met her ears.

At first, Lily thought that she was the only one who had heard the sound, (it had been loud, but not too loud) but, much to her horror, it wasn't so. Vernon looked about the kitchen, temporarily drawn out of his conversation.

"What was that?" he asked thickly.

Mrs. Evans glanced at Lily, who shook her head frantically. Lily was probably the only one who really knew what it was. But before Lily or anyone else could deny hearing anything, the whole thing was wrecked in a fleeting instant.

The sitting room connected immediately to the kitchen, and everything that happened there was fully visible from where the Evans family sat at the kitchen table. This included the fireplace, which was against back wall, and if any of those at the table turned their heads to face the sitting room, that would most likely be the first thing that would come to sight. A voice coming from that direction caught everyone's attention.

"Hey, Lily! You there?" called a boy's voice from the general direction of the sitting room. Everyone turned to see who was in there.

The shoulders and head of a boy about Lily's age were visible, amongst blue flames, in the fireplace. Everyone stared: Lily included. She was the first to fall out of shock. She jumped out of her chair and practically flew to the fireplace, trying to obstruct it from Vernon and Petunia's view as best as possible.

The boy had a good-natured smile on his face as he saw Lily approaching. His hair was reddish brown, and his face was slightly freckled. "Hello, Lily!" he said, "I had to ask if you'd seen the news..."

Lily cut him off. "_Eddie_! What are you doing here?" she whispered furiously, "don't you know my family is muggle?"

"Bloody hell! They know you're a witch don't they?" asked the boy addressed as Eddie, much too loudly.

"Eddie, get out of here!" murmured Lily venomously, "my sister's boyfriend is here... he _doesn't_ know!"

"Oh! Sorry, Red," Eddie said, putting a hand over his mouth as if he'd said something very wrong, "I just wanted to know if you'd seen the newspaper..."

"Good grief, no I haven't!" snapped Lily, "I'll talk to you on the train! Bye!"

"Bye, Lily!" said Eddie, and with a small pop, he disappeared.

There was silence. Lily slowly and reluctantly turned to face her family. Her mother, father, and sister had never seen anyone travel by floo powder before (for that is how Eddie Bones had communicated with her from thirty miles away), and, of course, neither had Vernon Dursley. He stared blankly at Lily.

"What the hell...?"

"Vernon," said Petunia quietly, "we should go home."

"Wha?"

"C'mon," Petunia went on, taking up Vernon's hand and pulling him out of his chair, "there's something I need to tell you."

"There was someone in your fireplace," Vernon said blankly to Mr. Evans, as the younger couple made their way out.

"I can't imagine how..." began Mr. Evans, but he didn't bother finishing the lie.

In the entryway, Vernon and Petunia called a dull and nearly forgotten "goodbye," then exited the house. Petunia slammed the door behind her.

**_OoOoOoOoO_**

**_Note from the cook_:** I personally am not a big fan of this chapter, but I needed to get some things said and done, and the next chapter will be a better read, now that I've got one main character introduced. Chapter 2 is either already posted or will be soon. I'm serious though: I WILL give cookies to whoever reviews. Even if you're just telling me I suck and should just go live in a pickle jar and never write again! Yummy! Pickles!

Cheers

!Jewels!

P.S. I was serious about the cookies...


	2. Somewhere Between Nine and Ten

_Note From the Cook:_ here's chapter 2. I hope the writing style of this chapter isn't too... frilly... I just have the feeling that it is...

_Recap of Last Time_: We meet 17-year-old Lily Evans. Older sister Petunia and her live-in boyfriend, Vernon, come to visit, but a visit by floo powder screws up breakfast, and Lily prepares to return to insanity at Hogwarts.

_Origins of the Recipe_: All recipe procedures come from the work of J.K. Rowling. Jewels is an imitator. Jewels is an imitator who is presently speaking of herself in the third person...

**_Chapter 2: Somewhere Between Nine and Ten_**

"_The more things change, the more they remain... insane." -_Anonymous

Lily stared blankly out the station wagon window.

At long last, she was on her way to Kings Cross Station- to Hogwarts. Her trunk was loaded next to her in the back seat of the car, her parents were in the front (Mr. Evans driving), her beaded carry-on was on her lap, and she felt positively miserable. The fact that she was returning to Hogwarts after two months was kept from her mind by the annoying voices in her head that kept reminding her of less pleasant subject matter.

Petunia had called.

Fifteen minutes before they left for the station, she had called.

Apparently, Vernon had been planning to ask (this morning) Mr. and Mrs. Evans' permission to marry Petunia. Just for formality sake. Vernon and Petunia loved formalities. Yet Lily felt miserable about it even still. She was everything Petunia always said she was at the moment. She'd screwed it all up. Once again.

Mrs. Evans glanced apprehensively back at her daughter from the front seat of the car. When she spoke, it was among the first things said since they'd left home. "What did she say?" the mother asked, speaking, of course, about Petunia's call.

"Stuff," said Lily dully.

"That bad?"

"Mhm."

Lily wouldn't dream of repeating most of the things Petunia had said in her call, but among the less profane things mentioned was Vernon's intended proposal. Lily hadn't told this to her parents either; she supposed Petunia would tell them in her own time.

"We'll be there soon," said Mr. Evans, who had been the only one calm enough to drive the car.

Lily continued to stare out the window. She would be there soon. Soon. Really, really soon. Too soon? Even if the ordeal with the Eddie Bones in the fireplace hadn't occurred, Lily would be nervous right now. And she was.

Her eyes flitted about the car, landing on her pale hands that rested on her lap. She fidgeted, trying to distract herself from the possibilities of this year, which glared her in the face. Lily could handle returning to her old enemies at Hogwarts. Girls like Collista Black or Olivia Malfoy, who had been Lily's adversaries for most of her Hogwarts career, weren't the problem. Lily was ready to face them; they would mock her "dirty blood" and "bad heritage," but that was nothing new.

A cloud passed over the sun, and Lily wondered whether it would rain.

What was new about this year was the pressure that had never existed as much as it did now- not on Lily, but on many witches and wizards around her. Towards the end of Lily's previous year at Hogwarts, several students, with whom Lily had formerly been fairly friendly, began to notice the newspaper articles more and more. Their attitude towards Lily had changed for the worse as well. Not only muggle-borns were in danger now; almost anyone who was openly friendly towards muggle-borns, or muggles themselves, was "tainted by association."

Lily was half afraid that even her best friends- the "pureblood" ones- would begin avoiding her too. An old friend from Ravenclaw house had skipped an exam study session with her the year before; how would Lily's closest friends react?

But something inside Lily wouldn't allow her to believe that Alice Prewett- a girl with as pure a family history as possible- would desert her. For starts, Alice was the absolute sweetest person on the planet. Hardly any harsh word or reprimand ever escaped her mouth, unless she was telling Lily off for swearing, or if it was very well deserved.

And what about Remus?

No. The thought was laughable. If Lily's and Remus's relationship had survived some of the things it had already survived, a little thing like Lord Voldemort couldn't ruin it now.

Yet a girl like Eden Dearborn, another of Lily's closest friends, was a different story. True, Eden had defended Lily on numerous occasions over the years against the insults of Collista Black, but this summer things had changed rapidly. Lord Voldemort was more of a threat then ever before. He wasn't just the radical wizard from who knew where, with ideas that "would never catch on." He wasn't just the wizard who spoke what some of the less deserving "pure-bloods" were thinking, but never dared to utter. That was how Lily had first heard of him- but that had been almost seven years ago. Since then, Lord Voldemort had become more powerful than most people could have originally imagined. He didn't just have followers that liked the idea of "purifying wizard-kind;" he had- for all intensive purposes- an army. Lord Voldemort called them "Death Eaters."

So what about Eden?

"Lily? _Lily_!" called Mrs. Evans from the front. Lily was brought out of her miserable reverie and her eyes flew up to her mother.

"Er... what was that?" Lily asked, biting her lip.

"We're here," Mrs. Evans repeated clearly; she indicated to the parking lot of Kings Cross in which they were now parked. Mr. Evans was already out of the car and pulling the trunk out of the seat next to her. Mrs. Evans climbed out as well and went to go find a trolley. Then it was time for goodbyes.

They were short and uneventful, and then with a final hug and kiss to both her parents, Lily- pulling the trolley that held her trunk- walked away towards the platforms. Past one, two, three, four, etc. Lily wasn't really paying attention to them; she was just trying to keep calm. But Lily _did_ come to her senses when she got to platform nine. The barrier between platforms nine and ten was what would lead her to Hogwarts.

The first book of magic that Lily had ever read was _Hogwarts, A History_- way back before first year. In that book, it explained how surprisingly simple it was to get to Hogwarts.

All a witch or wizard had to do, was to be on the Hogwarts Express at eleven o'clock in the morning on September the first of pretty much any year. To get onto the Hogwarts Express, all one had to do was to get onto platform nine and three quarters at the appropriate time. To get onto platform nine and three quarters, all one had to do was to walk (or run) directly through the solid-looking barrier between platforms nine and ten at the Kings Cross Station in London. Needless to say, Lily had lost a good deal of faith in books the day she read that.

The first time Lily had ran through the barrier, she had been extremely nervous. Today, however, was a completely different story, as the _mostly_ collected redhead walked as casually and inconspicuously as possible strait through the "solid" barrier. Lily automatically closed her eyes as she made contact with the barrier, but even if she hadn't, she would not have been able to see anything other than a vague blur of color.

When she did open her eyes though, a busy train station platform came into view. The sign overhead read, "Platform Nine and Three Quarters," and underneath that, "11:00 am: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Lily sighed in relief and pushed her way through the crowd of people (students with their magical parents, saying goodbyes) towards the scarlet train, which was barely visible ahead. The Hogwarts Express.

The platform seemed somewhat more crowded than usual to Lily, and it was with great difficultly that she made it to the train. As she walked, a good deal of people stopped to say hello, including a blushing second year boy. Many of the underclassmen males seemed to have crushes on Lily, a fact that her friends never ceased to tease her about.

Lily reached the train and, with the assistance of a sixth year boy, whom Lily didn't really know, managed to pull her trunk onto the landing of the second car. Lily and her friends had a sort of tradition to sit on the second car, whenever possible. She thanked the sixth year, then set off down the corridor to find a compartment.

As she went down the corridor, she peered into the fogged glass windows of each compartment door, or else tried to listen to any conversation taking place inside for a moment, in hopes of finding any of her friends. About half way through the compartments, she found the desired one.

Inside sat Alice Prewett.

Alice was a seventh year girl of about average height. Her figure was round (though by no means overweight) as was her face. It was a sweet face, due to large, soft brown eyes, small nose, rosy complexion and persistently nice smile. Her indefinitely long golden-brown hair was constantly pulled back into a loose braid, or else some complicated knot at the back of her neck. Alice smiled pleasantly when Lily entered the compartment, which lifted part of the load on her (Lily's) back.

"If it isn't the Head Girl to put shame to all other head girls," said Alice enthusiastically.

"How'd you hear?" asked Lily, as Alice stood to help her load the heavy trunk onto the overhead rack. Although Alice didn't look it, she was extraordinarily strong.

"You wrote Guen, who told Jess, who told Leander, who told me," Alice replied, shrugging. Then she added defensively, noticing that Lily rolled her eyes, "_What_?"

"Nothing- It's just I don't even know who Jess is..."

"Neither do I, but Leander told me that she told him."

_'Was that before or after she slept with him, I wonder,'_ Lily thought, but she couldn't dream of saying it to Alice. Alice had been going out with one Leander Vireo off an on for years. She was perfectly aware that her boyfriend was a cheat, but had found it in her heart to forgive him when he asked her to. Oddly enough, it was Leander that always broke up, and Leander who always later begged forgiveness.

"So why _didn't_ you write me with the news," asked Alice as they sat down opposite each other. Though her tone was reproachful, Lily could tell that Alice wasn't offended. No doubt she was rationalizing the situation in her head.

"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Lily, trying to sound as if she had forgotten. "I didn't really write to anyone. Only, Guen wrote me last week wanting help for Transfiguration, and she happened to ask if I got the badge..."

This seemed to satisfy Alice. "Well then let's see it," she said, observing that Lily wasn't wearing the badge. Lily pulled it from her pocket.

"Shouldn't you be in the Head compartment?" Alice asked, running a finger over the badge's shiny surface.

"I'll wait till we start moving," Lily said as she took the badge back and returned it to her pocket. "Have you seen Lexi?" she added casually. She leaned back against the seat.

"Nope," replied Alice, "she's got a new boyfriend... Frank What's-His-Face..."

"Oh that's right," Lily recollected, "I saw her at the end of July and she told me about it. Frank Longbottom, right? He's nice enough, I suppose."

"Mhm," assented Alice, "he's a Gryffindor anyway. Guen dated him for a while, but she doesn't like him. Then again, she doesn't like any of her ex-boyfriends. So he could be perfectly fine..."

"I wouldn't know," said Lily, shrugging, "I don't think I've ever spoken two sentences to the guy. You should ask Eden, though... I bet she knows him."

"Eden knows everyone," agreed Alice. At that moment, the train whistle sounded outside, and the train itself slowly began to move. Alice opened the window to wave good-bye to her parents, who were sending Alice's younger brother onto the train. Lily slipped out of the compartment and out into the corridor. She made her way towards the first car.

It was difficult business, for the second car corridor was slightly narrower than the others, and many students already crowded the space. Finally making it through the second car, onto the first, and eventually to the head compartment (at the very front), Lily entered. She expected to see it empty, or else occupied by the Head Boy, but it wasn't.

A tall, gangly man stood at the far end, directly in front of the window. He stood with an air of dignity, especially in his two dull brown eyes. Thick, square glasses rested on his somewhat goose-like nose, and his brown hair was slicked to the side with copious amounts of some sort of styling gel. His figure- so tall and skinny- reminded Lily of an adolescent boy who hadn't quite grown into himself, but the man's face suggested that he was at least thirty. He wore long black robes, that didn't seem to fit quite right, (they were a bit baggy) and a silver badge on his breast stated that he was from the Ministry of Magic.

Lily stared in surprise at him.

"I am Gilbert Korcesh," said the man.

"Lily Evans," said Lily, accepting the offered hand.

"This compartment is, as I understand, reserved for the Heads..." Mr. Korcesh said, eying Lily in a way that she didn't like. There was something odd about his voice that Lily couldn't quite place. He spoke only a few words, but they sounded so perfect that it was almost like Mr. Korcesh hadn't spoken English at all, but a foreign language. Yet it _was _English.

"Oh!" said the Head girl hastily, "right! Sorry about that!" She started fumbling in her pocket for the badge, which she provided for inspecting a moment later. Mr. Korcesh glanced at it, then up at Lily.

"I'm from the Ministry of Magic," he explained needlessly, "from the department of Magical Law Enforcement. I'm here to ensure that the Hogwarts Express arrives at the school safely, and also to supervise the system here. Please act as if I'm not here. I'll just be coming in and out: inspecting and making sure things are safe..."

"Are we in any danger?" Lily asked automatically, but she wished she hadn't a moment later.

"Not if I'm here," was the crisp and prepared reply. Lily raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Do you happen to know when the Head Boy will be arriving?" Mr. Korcesh continued after a moment.

"No, I don't," said Lily politely, "I don't even know who he is..." she trailed off suggestively, hoping the Ministry wizard would tell her who the other head was. Mr. Korcesh, however, didn't seem to catch the hint.

"I see," he said tonelessly.

"The prefects will be coming soon too," Lily added presently.

"Oh... of course," said Mr. Korcesh. There was an awkward pause, and Lily shifted her weight uncomfortably. "I must go and see the conductor," Korcesh said finally, relieving Lily greatly, "I'll be back soon." He left, and only moments later, the prefects began to arrive.

There were two prefects for each of the school's houses (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin), a boy and a girl. Lily had been the Gryffindor prefect, along with one Remus Lupin. Remus was not, however, one of the prefects to arrive at first.

Instead, it was the two Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuff girl. Next came the two Slytherins, who glared menacingly at Lily as they entered and observed her Head badge. It was another five minutes before the other Hufflepuff came, and then they simply waited for Remus. By now, most of them suspected him to be the Head Boy.

"Why don't you sit down, Lily?" asked Rian Orlando, the male Ravenclaw prefect; he grinned as he saw Lily leaning against the closed window.

"No reason," shrugged Lily, "I just feel like standing. And where the hell is Remus anyway?"

Rian shrugged too, and everyone else added his or her own ignorance. They waited for another five minutes or so, before they began to suggest sending out search parties. At this point, however, voices from the outer corridor enforced silence as they listened in interest. One voice definitely belonged to Remus Lupin.

"Oh come on!" Remus's voice said, "It's not like it's a _disgrace_..."

"Yes it is, Moony," snapped another voice, "I'm not going in there."

"You have to! You have the badge!"

"No!"

"You're being a baby," said an amused Remus, still from outside the compartment.

"No!" protested the other.

A moment later, Remus slid the compartment door open. He stuck his sandy brown-haired head inside and said very rapidly, "Hi, Lily. How was your summer? Would you mind coming out to convince our reluctant Head Boy that he has to come in. He's being a real prat."

Not wanting to guess who the head boy was (though she had a horrifying idea), Lily slowly made her way out into the corridor and slid the door shut. Besides Remus, there was another seventeen-year-old standing there. He was tall, slim, and good-looking, with disorderly jet-black hair, hazel eyes, and thin-rimmed glasses. He looked extremely disgruntled.

Lily didn't have to look at the badge on his chest to guess that this was the new Head Boy. She fell back against the wall of the corridor, suddenly feeling sick.

"He's gone mad," she said simply; "Dumbledore's gone mad."

Remus snickered, but if Lily had been looking (and she wasn't), she would have seen that the mirth did not reach Remus's grey steady eyes. Meanwhile, the Head Boy glared. His name was James Potter.

James ran a thin hand through his already messy hair in a distracted sort of way. This didn't improve Lily's mood.

"_You're_ head boy," she said blankly.

James nodded slightly.

"He thinks it's a disgrace," Remus smirked to Lily.

"_I_ think it's a disgrace," said Lily, rubbing her forehead stressfully.

"Well there you go!" said Remus, "that's the first step: you two agree on something!" He put his hands on both of their shoulders, but was thrown off and given glares.

"Remus- I love you- but if you want to keep your head, will you please go in the compartment with the other prefects?" Lily asked, in a would-be calm voice. Remus complied, a bit of a grin on his face. Lily stared at James. "Let's get one thing strait, right now," she said coldly, once they were left alone, "I don't want to go to Azkaban prison. Ever. So _please_ don't make me murder you."

"I'll have committed suicide long before you can murder me," replied James coolly.

"Oh, please!" cried Lily, throwing her hands up in the air and rolling her green eyes irritably; it was the last straw: "don't pretend you won't enjoy every moment of this! Docking points, giving detentions! Taking the privileges without the responsibilities. As always..."

"And what do you know of it, Evans?" retorted James, "Absolutely nothing. That's the flaw in your theories: you draw them before you've got the facts."

The reference to some past occurrence did not escape Lily. "And you don't draw theories at all..." she countered venomously and rather loudly; "you pull pranks, play Quidditch, mess up your hair, and pick on eleven-year-olds. That's JUST about it."

Remus stuck his head out of the compartment. "We can hear you, y'know," he said, with half a smirk on his face. The Head Boy and Girl simultaneously pushed Remus's head back into the compartment, then James slid the door shut with a slam. When it bounced open, Lily (rolling her eyes yet again) slid it more gently.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Evans," James reiterated angrily; he took a step closer and tried to tower over her. Admittedly, he did have a good five inches on her, but _no _one had ever been able to really tower over Lily Evans. Perhaps it was something about the red hair. In any case, James accepted this, and calmed down. He leaned against the compartment door, and retreated to glaring rebelliously.

Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair, trying to think. "Alright," she said, "there's no way we can get out of this for the moment..." (she wondered if Dumbledore would let her resign)... "so we'll have to make the best of it. I promise not to... well... I promise to try not to kill you, and you promise not to... um... be James Potter-ish."

"I object," said Remus, who now stuck his head out of the compartment again. Again, the Head Boy and Girl pushed him back in, and James slammed the door. Again it bounced open, and Lily had to shut it correctly.

"The door hates me" muttered James.

"You're digressing," Lily pointed out.

"You promise not to kill me; I won't slack off," compromised James. Lily thought about this for a moment, before conceding. She was considering shaking hands on the deal, but decided against it. She wasn't mentally prepared to shake hands with James Potter just yet.

Mr. Korcesh of the Ministry now returned, and after a short and far too dignified introduction to James, the three entered the Head compartment to face the prefects.

_OoOoOoOoO_

Alice gaped. "You're kidding!"

"I only wish I was," sighed Lily, collapsing onto the seat opposite her surprised friend. She had just finished with the necessary lecture to the prefects, and if it wasn't for Mr. Korcesh's presence, Lily was sure that she would have broken her vow and killed James.

"You know, _I_ don't think he's that bad," Alice said reasonably, after a moment of thoughtfulness.

"Alice, you don't think _anyone_ is that bad," Lily pointed out, staring dully out the window at the passing scenery. The hills and trees seemed so peaceful and Lily envied them.

"Well I just believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt," defended Alice, shrugging.

"'I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,'" quoted Lily, and seeing Alice's perplexed face she added, "It's from a book. The character says that... then gets raped."

_"LILY!"_

"Well _I_ didn't write the book!" defended Lily, half-laughing at the disapproving look on her friend's face. She decided to change the subject: "Have you seen Lexi or _anyone_?" she asked. She emphasized the "anyone."

"Oh ya," said Alice, suddenly recollecting, "Lexi's with Frank... but she said she'd come back around lunch when Frank goes to hang out with his friends."

Lily nodded. "And... er... Eden?"

"Nope... haven't seen Eden," shrugged Alice. Lily tried to let it settle in her mind. Eden must just be with a boyfriend. Or perhaps she was stalking the food cart. Or maybe she was arguing with 'the guys' over Quidditch or something. Or hanging out with her Ravenclaw friends.

Alice read her mind. "Are you worried about Eden?" she asked quietly.

"W-worried about Eden?" asked Lily, trying to sound innocent, "if anyone knows that Eden Dearborn can take care of herself, I do, Alice."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," said Alice pointedly. "Don't worry about it. Eden's not like the prat last year who wouldn't study with you." This didn't console Lily much, but what did console her was remembering that Eden had some blood issues of her own.

Ten minutes or so passed of recapping the summer events. Apparently Alice had been out of the country, and quite busy, which explained why she hadn't written. Finally the conversation came full circle to the Head Boy. Alice still defended James Potter, and Lily still accused him. The Lily and James enmity went way back.

It was far too complicated and far too long ago to remember how it had started for most people, but Lily remembered, and she was pretty sure James did too. They had started out rivals (mainly for top marks in the classes- James beat Lily in almost every class, except Charms and Potions), and due to said complex circumstances, had thus escalated into a certain loathing. Temporarily.

In early fifth year, things changed. He asked her out. She said no, and smacked him. Shocked by the fact that she had had the nerve to refuse, he did the only natural thing, and asked her out again a little later. She grabbed the nearest goblet and poured him on his head, and it happened to be full of pumpkin juice. This was the final straw, and James had had no other option except ask her out about a dozen more times in the months to come. Settle to say the answer was negative, and James hadn't "seen fit to lower himself" (as Lily said) again.

James and his friends (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew- collectively known as "the Marauders") also had a knack for prank pulling, which may or may not have contributed to the original complex circumstances of James's and Lily's loathing. Of the four Marauders, James was, of course, the one Lily disliked the most. Sirius was pretty bad too, but the unfortunate redhead could stand his presence, in small doses. Lily had no opinion on Peter Pettigrew, except that he was a bit of a pushover.

Remus, on the other hand, was one of Lily's friends. They'd become friends when they were study partners in second year. He was more subdued than his friends, or, at least, he didn't have a record number of detentions. Remus was probably Lily's closest male friend, which was saying something, considering numerous encounters that would regularly detract from a friendly relationship. But they didn't for Lily and Remus.

Not even the last time James asked Lily out had any serious effect on their friendship. It had a slight one, but only a slight one. It was, after all, from that day- a hot June afternoon by the lake- that the mediocre enmity between Lily Evans and James Potter blossomed into full-out war.

And now they were Head Boy and Girl.

Lily groaned at the thought.

Around twelve thirty, a plump witch with the food cart arrived, and Lily bought her share of sweets. Alice bravely refused any sweets, and (after some time of searching) found some relatively healthy lunch food at the bottom of the cart, which only made Lily feel guilty.

A few minutes after the food cart's departure, Lily and Alice were interrupted in their lunch by a new arrival. It was Alexandria Shaw.

Lexi (as she was more commonly known) was a short, thin Asian girl of seventeen. Her hair was a long, thick curtain of black, which fell to her elbows in shiny masses. Thin-rimmed square glasses framed her brown eyes, which sparkled with a shrewd, sardonic, and amused view of the world around her. Lexi, like Lily, was a muggle-born, but Lily had seen "purebloods" pass more convincingly as normal. At the moment, Lexi wore a knee-length deep orange skirt. Her stockings were striped lime and forest green, and on her feet she wore black Mary-Jane style shoes. On her upper half, Lexi wore an also lime green tank top, which partially covered a long sleeved royal purple t-shirt. Finger-less netted gloves were on Lexi's hands, and a stylish red bucket hat was pulled over her black-haired head. This wasn't the most conservative outfit that Lily had seen on Alexandria, but it wasn't the zaniest either.

"Lexi!" cried Lily, when her friend entered the compartment.

"Greetings!" said Lexi. She invited herself in and sat next to the redhead. "Did you guys hear _the news_?" she added conspiratorially.

"Hear what news?" asked Lily and Alice in unison, leaning closer to hear Lexi's news.

"Oh well if you didn't hear we can't tell you," said Lexi indifferently, leaning back on the seat again. Lily and Alice leaned back too, wry expressions on their faces.

"You're yanking our chains," said Lily, smirking.

"Well... ya..." agreed Lexi; "so how goes it on this side of the sanity line?"

"Fair enough," replied Alice, "where's Eden?"

"She was breaking up with Clark last we saw," said Lexi lazily; "that was about fifteen minutes ago. So our guess is she's either trying to find someone to comfort the poor idiot, or she's hiding in the Marauder compartment."

"She's breaking up with Clark?" gaped Lily in surprise. Eden had been dating Clark Maxon since the middle of the previous year, so the break-up was somewhat of a big deal for her friend.

"Yeah," said Lexi, sighing, "she probably thought he..." Lexi broke off suddenly, "well... whatever. Anyway, how was your summer, Alice? We got zillions of owls from my _good friend_ Lily," (Lexi slipped an arm around Lily's shoulder) "but _you_ didn't send us any..." She lifted her nose in the air and pretended to be indignant.

"I've been busy on vacation," explained Alice, sincerely sorry.

"Ooo!" said Lexi suddenly (Lily didn't think she had even heard Alice's explanation), "look! You have food!"

"No, we don't," said Lily, hiding her chocolate frogs, "it's an allusion. You're losing your mind, Lexi!"

Lexi more or less ignored this and took a chocolate frog. After unwrapping it she took a small bite and said quizzically, "So what do you think of Frank?"

"Never met him," said Lily and Alice together.

_"What?_ You've never met Frank? How odd... he's a Gryffindor y'know."

"How'd you meet him?" Alice demanded.

"Let me guess," joked Lily, "_Eden._"

"You're brilliant," said Lexi sarcastically. "Anyway, he'll be here later and you can meet him. He's very nice really, but we- that is, I- don't know how well we'll work."

"Then why are you going with him?" asked Alice in anxiety. "Don't you think it'll hurt his feelings if he finds out you don't think it'll work out?"

"Well we couldn't very well spare his feelings by saying 'no' when he asked, could we?" said Lexi, also sounding a little apprehensive. "Just hoping he's got the nerve to break it off and we're not left to do it." Alice shook her head sagely but said nothing.

They chatted impartially for a little while, until Lily mentioned James Potter's situation as Head Boy. Lexi expressed her sympathy, but sided with Alice in that he wasn't really all that bad after all.

"We suppose we can see why you dislike him," she said to Lily, shrugging, "but we don't have any particular dislike for him. He's never been mean to us."

"No one's mean to _you_," Lily pointed out. "I can't think of a single person who is mean to you, Lex."

This was probably true. Lexi was very quiet in class and when she wasn't among her friends or family. But she wasn't shy. She simply didn't find anything to talk about with people she didn't know very well. When among friends, however, it was all sarcasm, randomness, and brilliance from Lexi. She was an exceptionally bright student (she took all but two of the available classes), and she was a fair Quidditch player too. But she also blended into the crowd, unless it was a matter of copying homework answers. Anyone who might not like her simply couldn't get away with picking on her.

About half an hour after Lexi's arrival, she departed in an attempt to find Eden and drag her to the compartment. Lily and Alice spent the time that Lexi was gone in separate occupations. Lily read, and Alice finished up some homework, which had been assigned for the summer.

Lexi returned in ten minutes, but not with Eden. She brought Frank.

"Greetings," Lexi said, holding a bemused Frank Longbottom's hand. They sat down next to Alice, and Lily was able to get a good look at Frank. She had never really observed him before.

He was about average height (he couldn't have been more than an inch taller than Lily) and weight. His hair was curly brown, but his eyes were blue. His face was nice, and though not exceptionally handsome, by no means displeasing. His 'hellos' to Lily and Alice were polite, if nervous. His whole attitude seemed to show that he doted on Lexi.

Frank and the girls talked for a little while about everything and nothing. Some of the subjects included his favorite Quidditch team, his favorite teachers, his favorite class (Defense Against the Dark Arts), his least favorite class (Potions), how he happened to meet Lexi, and how long he and Lexi had been going together (since early July). After a while, he too left the compartment, and presently, so did Lexi.

And then, finally, around four in the afternoon, the most anticipated person finally made an entrance into Lily and Alice's compartment.

_OoOoOoOoO_

"You're kidding!"

A look of utter shock was on the handsome face of seventeen-year-old Sirius Black. He stared at his best friend, James Potter, who was slouching on the compartment seat next to him, looking annoyed. It was around eleven thirty and James had just returned from the Heads compartment.

"I only wish I was," commented the new Head Boy irritably.

"Well either God, or Dumbledore, has a sense of humor," said Sirius, half-laughing. "First you're made Head Boy, then your archenemy is made Head Girl. I'm expecting hell to freeze over just about any minute!"

Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew also sat in the compartment; Remus found the situation as amusing as Sirius, but Peter looked worried.

"We'll come to your funeral," said Peter pityingly.

"Or we'll send flowers anyway," joked Sirius.

"You guys are having way too much fun with this," said James sullenly.

"Well we've had hardly any fun at your expense in over two months, so you can't blame us," Sirius pointed out. The four Marauders- as they were commonly known- hadn't seen much of each other this past summer, except for James and Sirius, for the latter lived with James's family. But James and Sirius hadn't been in much of a joking mood lately, and for once, Remus hadn't come to visit at all. Problems among the Marauders had arisen in the last few days of sixth year, and though they were settled on the train home for the summer, it had taken two months of separation to really destroy the tension.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Sirius asked. He calmed down a little and was trying to see things from his best friend's point of view.

"Do?" interrupted Remus, who was, by far, the least of a troublemaker. "He's not going to _do_ anything _to_ anyone, or else suffer several people's wrath!_ Including_ mine."

"Now who died and made you Minister of Magic?" demanded Sirius. "And anyway, I wasn't saying he had to _do_ anything to _anybody. _I was just asking how he'll maintain a good reputation as a Marauder _and_ be Head Boy."

"Remus did it as a prefect," Peter pointed out.

"Yes," said Sirius slowly, "but Remus is really a prefect at heart. James... Head Boy? I think not."

"That's right Sirius: you think not at all," said Remus sardonically. Peter laughed, and even James smirked.

"Oh that was _so_ funny," Sirius retorted, "But it doesn't solve the problem. Can James Potter- prankster extraordinaire, second only to Sirius Black..." James coughed... "Alright, _fine_," continued Sirius, "second only to Sirius Black and Remus Lupin- can James Potter be Head Boy?"

"The solution's very simple," said Remus collectedly. "All you have to do is not..."

"Get caught," finished James. He gave Remus an approving look, "You're right, Moony; I just have to play it smooth. Maybe this year won't be _too_ bad."

"Moony's got a point," Sirius said thoughtfully, "and anyway, James, you've got all these privileges that could come in handy..."

Remus- nicknamed Moony- sighed and muttered, "That's not exactly what I meant." But nobody heard. Sirius was suggesting that they all play a game of 'Exploding Snap' and the idea was taken up with energy by the other two. Remus reluctantly joined in the game as well.

By three o'clock, the game had changed to gobstones and the Marauders had been fed, but few other changes had occurred. The four Marauders were sitting on the floor playing the game with mediocre enthusiasm. They were interrupted by the opening of the compartment door.

James was the only one who recognized the person now entering.

"Mr. Korcesh!" he said in surprise, as the exhausted looking Ministry-worker entered the compartment. A witch and a wizard, each of whom had a badge on their chests that read "Auror Office, Ministry of Magic", accompanied him. The witch caught sight of James and Sirius and a slight smirk flashed across her face. The two Marauders full out grinned when they saw who it was.

"Mr. Potter," said Mr. Korcesh, bowing slightly to the only familiar face in the compartment. "I believe I told you in the Head compartment of my intention to inspect each of the compartments, with the assistance of these aurors I have brought with me."

"O-of course," said James, not really remembering, "These are Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black-my friends." He pointed to each one as he said their names, and an odd expression came into Mr. Korcesh's eyes as he saw Sirius. He whispered something in the male auror's ear, then turned to James again.

"These are the two aurors selected by myself and the Ministry to assist me in my inspection of this train," said Mr. Korcesh, "this is Crosby..." he indicated to the wizard, then he pointed to the witch, saying: "and this is..."

"Bright," interrupted James, "yeah, we know Bright."

"Bright_on_," corrected the witch, "I use my legal surname sometimes too, you know."

"You've met?" inquired Mr. Korcesh curiously.

"Sort of," grinned Sirius. Mr. Korcesh gave "Bright" a reassessing look. She was a petite woman, and despite a sort of swaggering tomboyish-ness about her, she was also somewhat pretty. She wore her reddish brown hair in a short boy-cut, and though her features suggested a girl of nineteen, twenty-one at most, Kara Brighton was no less than twenty-four years old.

"Well," said Mr. Korcesh, as he cleared his throat, "on with the proceedings." James got the feeling that Mr. Korcesh had done this before. "You will have to wait in the outside, if you don't mind."

"What exactly are you going to inspect?" Sirius wanted to know.

"The luggage," replied the auror, Crosby.

"What are you looking for?" James tested.

Mr. Korcesh smiled slightly. "Harmful objects," he said simply. "Now if you don't mind..."

The Marauders made there way out but with some reluctance. James was very thoughtful as he and his friends waited out in the corridor. '_Why inspect the Hogwarts Express?'_ he thought; _'If they're afraid of some harm coming to the train, why check our luggage _after_ we've boarded? If they're more worried about something dangerous getting onto school grounds, why send Korcesh along on the Hogwarts Express, and why inspect while we're still _on_ the train?'_

But the other Marauders weren't as thoughtful as James was at the moment. Remus was sniggering at Sirius's bad luck; apparently Padfoot (as Sirius was nicknamed) had brought a few somewhat illicit potions in his trunk.

Yet when Mr. Korcesh and the aurors, Crosby and Bright, finished and told the Marauders that they could return, they hadn't confiscated anything.

"That's weird," Sirius remarked, opening up his trunk. "All the potions are still here, and they didn't even ask me about them."

"Maybe they checked them and saw they were nothing dangerous," suggested Peter.

"I don't think so," said Sirius, closing up his trunk and pushing it onto the overhead rack again, "if they had checked them, they definitely would have confiscated them."

_OoOoOoOoO_

"Hello, Lexicon!"

The oh-so-familiar greeting of Eden Dearborn came to Lexi Shaw's ears as she entered the compartment where Lily, Alice, and (of course) Eden, were sitting. It was a few minutes past six in the evening, and Lexi had stopped by her friends' compartment to see if they had unearthed Eden. Apparently they had.

"Greetings," said Lexi, sitting down across from Eden, who was currently seated next to Lily. "How was the break-up?"

"Relatively good," remarked Eden, sighing, "Clark was getting bored with me anyway- the prat- so he wasn't too sad. Though, he probably would have preferred to dump me, rather than vice-versa. Does anyone else notice that that's probably the life-long ambition of half of Hogwarts' male population?"

"Dump Eden before she dumps you," joked Lexi, "sounds like a worthy occupation of time..."

Alice smiled a small smile out the window at the slowly darkening sky. "Hopefully the only thing that was bruised by the end was Clark's self-esteem," she said wisely. Eden grinned but said nothing.

Lily was silent as well. She hadn't spoken much in the past few hours. Eden was here at last, as pretty and friendly as ever, and Lily was relieved. There was no trace of prejudice when she spoke to Lily, no trace of irritation. Their conversation hadn't ranged to the serious subject matter that Lily most feared (namely Voldemort), but here Eden was, sitting next to her and chatting cheerfully.

"Shouldn't you change into your uniform?" Lexi was saying to Eden, who was the only one among them who was still in street clothes. Eden sighed, glancing down at her blouse and jeans.

"Probably," she replied, "but I'm procrastinating. I'll be wearing the uniform enough this year anyway. I don't see why we should have to wear it to welcoming feast anyway, other than to make us even more miserable."

"You know you love school," said Lily, smirking.

"Well I don't love home anyway," Eden said, rolling her eyes. Lily wasn't entirely sure this was true either, but it had become sort of a habit for Eden to complain about her home life. Only in the last few years had she really become comfortable at home, for she now lived with her stepsister, Marlene.

"How's your sister?" Alice asked. She apparently was on the same train of thought.

"Good I guess," said Eden shrugging, "Her boyfriend is busy as hell lately, which puts her in a bad mood, but she's so insane over him that she always forgets it."

"Do you like him? Her boyfriend that is?" asked Lexi.

"Yeah he's alright," said Eden, "but he's such a romantic. I swear if a guy ever said some of that cheesy stuff to me, I'd probably crack up laughing."

"Like with Craig Kaemer," joked Lexi in an undertone. Eden laughed, but Lily and Alice looked confused.

"I don't get it," remarked the latter.

"Oh Craig is this guy..." began Eden, but she couldn't quite finish, "never mind," she said, rolling her eyes, "it's not worth explaining. Craig is just... Craigish."

Lily glanced down at her watch, causing her to start and jump to her feet. "Damn!" she swore, then noticing Alice's disapproving look, she added, "sorry, Alice. I'm late, though... I'm supposed to be at the front of the train to get off first and direct the little kids. We'll arrive any minute!"

"And we should go find Frank," Lexi added, also standing.

"And I should go change my clothes," lamented Eden, rising and picking up her carry-on bag.

"Well that's not fair," said Alice, "I have to..." but she never finished. A sudden jolt that shook the whole train threw the three standing girls into seats again. Lexi tumbled onto Alice, and Eden slid with Lily to the end of the bench, slamming her into the wall. The train had stopped.

"S-sorry," groaned Eden, scooting over and rubbing her back in pain.

"What was that?" Alice asked, referring to the jolts.

Before anyone had time to answer, there was a second jolt, which caused the trunks overhead to rattle around on the rack. Lexi stood to try and secure them, only to be thrown down by a third shake.

"What's going on!" cried Lily.

There was a fourth and more powerful jolt, which caused several people outside to scream. One of the trunks fell off the rack, luckily hitting no one.

The lights on the train suddenly flickered for a moment, then went out...

_OoOoOoOoO_

**Cook's notice: **Chapter 2 guys! I'm hoping for more reviews, but I updated really quickly because I already had this chapter done anyway. If you've read, there's no point in _not_ reviewing, now is there? Lol, c'mon!

**Adoring- (:)(:)(:)(:) **_Do you like your virtual cookies? Anyway, I loved your review... and not just because it was my first! I'm so I'm glad you liked my style, and I'm also glad you don't find it cute when James does nothing but sit around and languish in love for Lily. I also prefer your type of review to the type you mentioned, because- like you said- they're nice, but pointless. Sorry for digressing; thanks a ton for reviewing!_

Luthien RhiannonCat5- (:)(:)(:)(:) _Thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy the delicious virtual chocolate chip cookies. Woot! I hope the story isn't _too_ fast moving. Thanks again for taking your time to leave me one, and I hope you continue to read!_

One more quick note to anyone reading: whatever any first impressions of any characters... there. Will. Be. No. Mary. Sues. Ever. At. All. Nunc. Non. Nip. Natta. Zip. Zang. Zilch. Zero. Period.

_Cheers,_

!Jewels!

Don't you love my virtual cookies? (:)


	3. The Serpent and the Skull

_Note From the Cook:_ Hope you liked the last chapter. Thanks to you reviewers, though there weren't many of you. I haven't been able to sleep at all lately, so I've been doing loads of writing, which is why I keep updating so quickly. But if I don't get more reviews I won't continue, just because not that many people are reading.

_Origins of the Recipe:_ all ideas, usages, concepts, etc. belong to the Master chef herself, J.K. Rowling. I'm a cheap rip off who doesn't get paid. Such is life.

_Recap of Last Time:_ Lily travels on the Hogwarts Express, discovers that James is the reluctant Head Boy, and converses with her friends (Alice, Lexi, and Eden- who are more than they appear, and WON'T become Mary-Sues). Just before they train should arrive at school, it breaks down. The lights go out, and we pick up this chapter with the girls in the dark.

_One last N/C:_ Minor language in this chapter... well... minor to medium... because these guys are seventeen-year-olds. What do you expect? Please review!

Chapter 3: The Serpent and the Skull 

"_Courage is fear that has said its prayers." _-Dorothy Bernard

Sounds of panic began to fill the air from the other compartments, but for the time being, there were no more jolts, and the compartment remained still. It was entirely dark, except for the light of the half moon, which shimmered through the window.

"What's going on?" Alice whispered, after a moment. There seemed something immoral about talking in a normal tone right now.

"I dunno," replied the other three in unison (except that Lexi said "We dunno). Lily felt around in the dark for her wand, which she located in her uniform pocket and pulled out. "Lumos," she murmured, and the tip of the wand was suddenly alight. Lexi and Alice followed the suit, but Eden was now standing on the seat, trying to fix the light fixture on the ceiling.

"The problem with broken lights," she muttered irritably, "is that you can't fix them when they're broken, because it's always too dark." Lexi picked up the trunk that had fallen to the ground, and with Lily's help, managed to get it onto the overhead rack again.

"C'mon," said Alice, "we should go see what's going on." Eden hopped off the seat, but unfortunately landed on Lexi's foot, which caused both girls to swear violently, and Alice to give them both a disapproving look, which they couldn't see, but could feel. The four girls exited the compartment, and found the outer corridor noisy and chaotic.

"_What's going on?"_

_"Why won't the lights work?"_

_"Is the train broken?"_

_"Ouch! Who stepped on my foot?"_

Complaints and fearful interjections sounded loudly throughout the car, but Lily tried to block them out of her head with the single objective of getting to the first car. It seemed that everyone important would be on the first car: the Head Boy, the Ministry of Magic workers, and the conductor...

"I'm going to the first car to see Korcesh- that guy from the Ministry of Magic who came by the compartments earlier," Lily muttered to Alice and Eden; Lexi had disappeared.

"Alice, you help me calm people down," Eden said urgently to the other friend. Alice presumably agreed, because both girls made their way towards a group of eleven-year-old girls who were in tears.

Lily headed in the opposite direction, and with great difficulty made it to the door that led to the first car. But it wouldn't open. She pulled hard on it, for she was reluctant to put out the light on her wand and use magic to open it. She grasped the knob and twisted, pulling it with all her strength. Just then, however, a delayed jolt shook the whole car and threw Lily backwards onto Eddie Bones, who, by some coincidence, was standing a few feet behind her.

Many people screamed, but Lily was not one of them. Eddie helped her off of him. "Are you okay?" Lily asked, hoping she hadn't been the result of any broken limbs on her friend.

"I'm fine; you?" asked Eddie sympathetically.

"Been better," groaned Lily, getting to her feet, and helping her companion up.

"Sorry about the thing earlier in the fireplace," Eddie added nervously.

Lily rolled her eyes at the idea that he would be worrying about a matter like that at a moment like this. "It's fine," she said. "Do you have any idea what's...?"

But she never had to finish the sentence. The door to the first car a few feet away suddenly flew open. However, it didn't just fly open, it flew completely off the hinges, and Lily had to fall to the ground to avoid getting hit by it as it swept past. Eddie, who stood next to her in the narrow corridor, was on the ground in the same moment, but judging by the yells, Lily could tell that someone else wasn't so lucky.

Her eyes, however, were on the dark doorway. It _was_ very dark, and Lily now noticed this more acutely. The only light was provided by a few lit wands (Lily's had gone out moments before), and, of course, by the faint moonlight. But no matter how dark it was in the corridor, Lily could still make out the movement of figures in the doorway to the first car. They were all black, so at first they were invisible, but soon their darkness exceeded that of the space around them.

They were men, for they were taller and thicker than any woman Lily could ever remember seeing. Each was clothed in long robes of black, complete with hood and cloak. The hood hid their faces from sight, but the sound of heavy breathing came from under them. Lily stared, pale faced, at them as they stepped closer and closer. At first she could only see three of the menacing figures, but she quickly perceived that there were more behind them.

Presently, the foremost figure spoke.

"We are servants of the Dark Lord," he hissed, "Surrender, or be killed."

Deadly silence. Everyone in the corridor seemed to be holding his or her breadth.

Lily's expression hardened, as she stared up from the floor at the Death Eaters, for that is who they were. She grasped tightly at the wand already in hand and slowly lifted it over her head, but the Death Eater, still in the middle of his speech, didn't seem to notice.

"Receda!" she shouted, and the foremost Death Eater flew against the corridor wall. Another of the invaders immediately sent a hex towards Lily, but she rolled out of the way (nearly crushing Eddie) and from somewhere far back a fellow student sent a stunning spell towards the attacker.

And all hell broke loose.

Several death eaters sent hexes back towards the students, but the students (the older ones at least) seemed to get the same idea simultaneously. Eddie shoved Lily off of him and made a dive for the closest Death Eater's feet. Yet as he knocked the death eater down, one of the others sent a spell of some variety towards Eddie (still on the ground), which hit the seventh year student directly in the back.

Lily screamed and hurled a stunning spell in the general direction of the assailant, but she didn't look to see if she hit him. Instead, she crawled to the spot where Eddie had fallen, avoiding getting hit by spells or feet. She leaned close to her friend's chest to see if there was a heartbeat; there was. She exhaled deeply, then (dodging a bolt of red light) tried to pull Eddie from the corridor and into the nearest open compartment. It was with great difficulty, for Edgar Bones was much heavier than he appeared at first sight. In fact, he was rather skinny, and not extremely tall either.

Yet Lily managed to pull him into an empty compartment, and though she was positive the spot wouldn't remain safe for long, she didn't see what else could be done with the unconscious friend. Ducking out of the compartment, Lily now had a quick decision to make. Defend the second car; warn the other cars (_were they under attack too?_); or move into the lion's den- the first car...

Those of Gryffindor house are supposed to posses an inclination towards a certain bravery, but Lily had never seen much courage in herself. Even now, as she shot a hex towards a death eater and pushed her way towards the first car, where there were certainly many more death eaters, she didn't think herself very brave. She certainly saw herself as many other noble enough things, but courageous was not one of them.

Lily made it to the door, which was no longer unattainable (the death eaters had spread about the car quickly), and hopped to the first car, where the conditions were very much the same, except there was more space, due to the wider corridor. The girl's thoughts were in a buzz: _what purpose was there in attacking the Hogwarts Express? How had the Ministry known? Where was Korcesh? Where was Potter?_

"Pellete!" Lily shouted, hitting one of the many cloaked menaces, who had been about to attack a younger student.

"Stupefy!" shouted a familiar voice from behind Lily a moment later, and she had to duck to avoid being hit. The familiarity of the voice caused Lily to turn and see a short, round figure hurrying towards her.

"Damn! I'm sorry," he cried, terrified. Lily peered hard at the boy, and recognized, through the dark, the face of Peter Pettigrew. It was not a particularly handsome face, but it was familiar, and at the moment, it was comforting.

"It's fine!" shouted Lily, for the noise was increasing by the moment. It was already almost unbearable. "Where's Potter?"

"I don't know!" shouted a nearly trembling Peter, dodging a spell that came absolutely nowhere near him. "I lost the others ages ago, but they were on this car last time I saw them!"

Lily nodded. "Come with me!" she said loudly, and, grabbing his thick wrist, she forced him to comply. They made their way (crouching down as the hurried along) toward the front of the car. Lily had the vague idea of trying to find the conductor. But when they reached the front, it became apparent that that would be impossible, for a wall of iron (or else some other metal) was blocking the corridor from the front apartments and the exit.

"What now?" cried Peter, despairing.

"I'm not exactly sure!" Lily said loudly. She shot a stunning spell towards an approaching death eater. "Not exactly sure" was a dramatic understatement, but she couldn't let Peter know that, so she pretended to have some inkling of a plan. With the hand that held her wand (the other was still clamped on Peter Pettigrew's wrist) Lily slid open the door to the nearest compartment and pushed Peter inside, before hurling herself in as well. She slammed the door shut.

"Look!" said Peter as if he beheld some great novelty. He pointed to the cowering figure of a boy of about twelve, who sat in the corner seat, a look of terror on his face.

Lily looked at, but didn't pay much heed to, the boy. Instead, she pointed her wand at the glass window and said in as calm a voice as could be expected, "Convello Vadem!" The glass shattered (falling outside the window), leaving no remnants around the perimeter of the window. Lily hastened to look outside and was quite surprised with the sight that met her eyes.

The train had not only stopped (or been stopped) at a spot where it was quite safe to jump out the window (there was solid ground just next to the track), but also quite close to the Hogsmeade station. Apparently arrival at Hogsmeade had been imminent, for the station was visible about five yards away from the tip of the train.

"We're here!" Lily gasped, to no one in particular. "But why? Why attack the train when it's five minutes from the school... from Dumbledore? Unless they wanted that..."

Peter pulled his wrist away from Lily. "If you're talking to someone, you might want to talk above a whisper," he said; apparently Peter had picked up some of his best friends' sarcasm.

"We're here," muttered Lily distractedly.

"Well obviously we're here," Peter said irritably, "the question is: _where is here?_"

"We're three seconds away from the station," said Lily coolly, taking a step back from the window. She raised her wand high again and said: "Diruo quamtotius." A jet of red light shot out from the tip of Lily's wand, blasting the wall and increasing the size of the hole already present due to the empty window. Peter and the second year yelled in shock and jumped back. At least, the younger boy yelled; Peter's was really more a shriek.

Lily turned to the two and watched them expectantly. They gave her bewildered looks. "Well I didn't just make the hole there for the view," she said, shifting her weight irritably.

Peter came to his senses first, and took the younger boy by the shoulder, pulling him off the seat. "C'mon," he grunted, and he began to make his way towards the giant blast area. But Lily, true to her sex, changed her mind.

"Wait, Pete," she said, and Peter didn't like her tone. Lily looked at the second year, "Get off the train..." she said kindly, "get off and warn someone. Hagrid... you know who Hagrid is, right?... well he should be hanging around, if he's not already here. Find him and tell him what's happening, unless he's already found us here. Whatever the case, find someone and tell him what's happening..."

"What _is_ happening?" the boy asked, frightened.

"We're under attack," replied Lily.

"But who do you want me to tell?" persisted the boy.

'_I was never this annoying at twelve,'_ Lily thought. "A _good _guy," she said sardonically, "now, go!"

The twelve-year-old seemed to think this was good enough, or else he wanted to get off the train, and he hopped from the hole that Lily had blasted to the ground. Lily looked out to make sure he was safe (he was) before turning to Peter Pettigrew again.

"I-I r-r-really think I should go with him," stammered Peter.

"And I don't," said Lily, "now c'mon..." She grabbed his wrist again and, pretending not to be absolutely terrified, slid open the compartment door.

Immediately, an unconscious sixth year (a Slytherin, for what it's worth) fell on Lily; apparently he had been leaning against the shut door.

"Oh my g... Peter, will you get this guy off me?" grumbled Lily, trying to support the sixth year and almost collapsing under the weight. Peter wriggled loose of Lily's grip and pushed the Slytherin off of her. "Thanks," she muttered. Now, with courage _and_ stupidity, Lily stepped out into corridor, and no sooner had she done so, she had to duck to avoid a jet of blue light that flew her way.

Rather than ducking every moment, Lily now simply dropped to her knees and began to crawl. "Come on!" she called back to Peter, who did so, but muttered something about "bossy know-it-alls." If Lily heard, she didn't reply.

"Where are we going?" called the bewildered and terrified Peter after a moment.

"To find Korcesh, and then to find the Head Boy," replied Lily loudly, for it was still quite noisy in the corridor.

"How are we going to do that?" Peter wanted to know.

"Um... guess, check, and revise!"

As she said this, Lily turned over an unconscious form that had fallen next to where she was crawling. Not being any person that she needed, she crawled around him. _'I can't very well do anything to help him,'_ she rationalized. _'I need to find someone who could help; I need to..."_ But she didn't finish the thought. The whole car suddenly shook, as if some earthquake was taking place. The noise level went up again.

"WHAT'S THAT?" called Peter to Lily.

"HOPEFULLY SOMETHING GOOD!" was the reply.

"IS LOTS OF SHAKING EVER GOOD?"

"Um... hopefully?"

Peter asked something else at this point, but Lily didn't listen. The violent shaking ceased, but a low, inconsistent (though continual) trembling continued. People were screaming. Loudly. Lily's head hurt.

The two seventh years came (with difficulty) to the back of the car, where the transition to the second car was. The situation seemed to be as chaotic and dangerous on the second car, and Lily was hoping to catch a glimpse of her friends, or at least some other upperclassmen.

"Do we have a plan, or are we just crawling for the exercise?" Peter asked, crawling up next to Lily as she waited for the opportune moment to jump to the next car.

She bit back the retort that had nearly spit itself out ("You could _use_ the exercise"), and said instead: "We're going to get everyone off the train." She said it as if it was the most obvious and the simplest thing in the world, but she knew (and she hoped Peter did not) that it wasn't either.

"Sounds alright," replied Peter, for lack of anything better.

"C'mon," Lily directed, and she made the small jump from the first to the second car. Peter followed, and would have been hit by a stunning spell that came his way, if Lily hadn't pushed his head down in time.

They were crawling a moment later.

"I want to see what the situation is like on the other cars, and hopefully not get killed," Lily explained to Peter.

The two reached the back of the car a moment later, and a similar iron barrier blocked the exit off the train. "Wait a second," Lily said to Peter, an inspiration coming to her. She pointed her wand at the barrier and muttered a spell under her breadth. The bolt of yellow light that was produced hit the metal but ricocheted off and hit the ceiling.

"Well that worked well," muttered Peter. "How do you suggest we...?"

But an almighty smashing sound interrupted him, and everything shook more violently than ever. Lily looked over her shoulder to see the source of the sound, and it quickly became apparent. The wall to the right (the side that the compartments were on) had been smashed through, and a familiar voice met Lily's ears.

"Students ger off the train!" boomed the voice of Rubeus Hagrid: Hogwarts's gamekeeper. But his voice was unlike Lily had ever heard it. It was louder and angrier.

"C'mon!" Lily shouted to Peter (though she needn't have shouted).

Lily scrambled towards the spot where Hagrid had broken through the wall, but the death eaters on the train were less than willing to allow it.

"Receda!" she shouted to one who attempted to block her way. That attacker flew back and hit the wall, but was not by any means out of the game. He recovered quickly and said in a cold, harsh voice:

"Stupefy!"

Lily ducked before the red jet of light could hit her, but Peter, who stood just behind her, wasn't so lucky. The spell hit him in the shoulder, and after staggering for a moment, he passed out.

"Stupefy!" Lily shouted from the ground, and she hit the attacker. She turned to Peter Pettigrew. "Enerverate," she muttered. Peter's dull blue eyes flickered for a moment, then snapped open. Lily pulled him to his feet. "C'mon," she repeated.

A grateful Peter followed as Lily made her way towards the utterly obliterated part of the wall. Both seventh years made use of their wands as they made the never-ending six-foot walk to Rubeus Hagrid and (hopefully) to an escape.

As they came closer, they could see Hagrid's gigantic hands guiding students off the train in large scooping motions. Death Eaters were sending curses and hexes towards him, but they didn't seem to have much affect. They were bouncing off his thick-skinned hands.

Lily and Peter were as close to the exit as they could possibly get, and Lily took her chance. She grabbed Peter's thick wrist (_again_) and dived under Hagrid's outstretched arm, which was pulling an unconscious student off. Through some miracle, the two landed, not on the tracks, but on the grass just next to them.

They groaned in pain. Lily had slid on her chest, and Peter had done some sort of odd somersault. But this of all times was not the time to nurse their wounds, and the two got up as quickly as possible and ran with the rest of the escaping students: towards the station.

As Lily came to the part where the grass ended and the stone platform began, she noticed that she had lost Peter. Hoping he knew what he was doing (and doubting it as well) Lily continued on in the direction of the castle. Two figures were standing just in front of the station building, and both were shouting directions.

"To the boats, everyone! All students to the boats! C'mon now! Hurry it along! You haven't much time!" shouted one, a young woman's voice.

"Hurry!" shouted the other, an older woman's voice. "To the boats, everyone! You have to get to the castle! Come along! To the boats!"

Still sprinting, Lily saw that the younger woman was one of the aurors that Mr. Korcesh had brought with him, and that the older was the very familiar Professor M. McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, Transfiguration teacher, and the head of Lily's house. Through the dark, Lily saw an expression on Professor McGonagall's face that she had never seen there before.

But Lily looked at McGonagall's face a moment too long, for suddenly, she found herself falling. She had hit something tall, and something that felt oddly like a person. Lily was on the ground in an instant, and her ankle was searing in pain.

"Damn shoes," Lily muttered, pulling off one of the three-inch heeled school shoes that she wore. But when she looked up, she saw that there were more pressing matters at hand. Several people screamed.

A tall figure, clothed in black with a hood and cloak, stared down at Lily. At least, his face was directed at Lily, but she couldn't see the eyes. For the first time, Lily saw what was under a death eater's hood. It was a faceless mask, indescribable beyond that, except that Lily was somehow mesmerized by it. Only for a moment.

She recovered herself and groped about for her wand. She couldn't find it. A chill ran up Lily's spine, as her eyes looked up at the pausing death eater before her. He wasn't attacking. Why? He had two wands, and one was Lily's. She had dropped it when she fell.

Yet Lily, wandless and unprotected, was not unarmed. She did the only thing that seemed logical, as the death eater raised her own wand and began to say a hex of some kind. She kicked. Her foot (the one that still had a shoe on it) hit his knee and he staggered for a moment. She had time to roll out of the way as he shouted a stunning spell, though. Scrambling as best she could to get away before the death eater fully recovered, she kicked off the other shoe and tried to run for it. Too late.

"Crucio!" said the death eater, and suddenly Lily was screaming in agony. The scream was lost to the other screams that sounded on the platform, but those sounds were muted to Lily. She fell to the ground and twitched in agony as the spell's influence over her heightened.

_'End it, end it!'_ she thought, '_McGonagall! Anyone! Help me! Where are you? God, somebody, help me!'_ But Lily couldn't articulate any of this. She screamed in pain.

And then it stopped.

"Expelliarmus!" echoed in Lily's head, and she knew that someone had hit the Death Eater. She opened her eyes and tried to get up off the ground, but it was difficult.

"Get up, Evans," said a voice somewhere, and a heavy hand lifted her shoulder off the ground.

"My wand," Lily uttered, gasping for air. Something warm and smooth was shoved into Lily's hand. Her wand. The hand slid from her shoulder to her wrist and began to pull her forward. Staggering and only barely able to move, Lily tried to follow, and sight began to return to her eyes. She saw a black haired head moving in front of her, and though she could not see the face, she knew who it was.

"Black?" she murmured.

"Sort of," said the undeniable voice of Sirius Black. He was a Marauder, a troublemaker, and her enemy's best friend, but Lily was grateful nonetheless.

"Did _you_ disarm the death eater?" Lily asked, beginning to return to herself again, and picking up the pace.

"No, it was McGonagall," replied Sirius. Lily glanced over her shoulder and saw that about half a dozen death eaters had apparated to the station. Several students had fallen. _'Why did he help me?'_ Lily wondered, '_There were others who he could have helped...' _But she didn't voice her curiosity.

The hard ground of the platform changed to the dirt path, and Lily had almost completely recovered. At least, she was now capable of running on her own, and Sirius had been able to let go of her wrist. She sprinted as fast as she could (her energy was low, however), but Sirius, who was obviously not running at his fastest, was still a fair distance in front of her. They came to the bank that led to the boats.

No boat was at the dock, and for about a minute, Lily, Sirius, and a few other students waited tensely for the boats to speed back (magically) from the opposite shore. The first boat came, but Lily and Sirius both insisted that the third years present go in first, and three fourth years and a fifth year were put into the next one. The third boat had already arrived, however, and Lily, Sirius, and the two others present took this opportunity.

It wasn't until she was in the boat that Lily noticed who was with her and Mr. Black. It was, by no great coincidence (rather by Sirius's design), James Potter and Peter Pettigrew. Lily wondered where Remus Lupin- the fourth Marauder- was, but before she voiced her curiosity, a loud splash sounded and screams filled the air more violently than before.

All four occupants of the boat turned their heads and saw, on the bank that they had just departed, the figures of death eaters. More apparated to the spot as they watched.

"Damn it," muttered James. He pointed his wand at the back of the boat and muttered a spell under his breadth. The Death Eaters, meanwhile, were making use of their own wands, as they tried to pick off the boats in the water. Several suddenly caught fire, and the students were forced to jump from the boats and swim for shore. But the boat that Lily and the three Marauders were in was safe for the time being, as they sped unnaturally towards shore.

Lily glanced over her shoulder, and could just make out a death eater raising his wand strait into the air. A jet of green light sprung from the tip and into the dark sky, illuminating everything. But the green light did not remain shapeless; it twisted and turned, and in a moment, Lily could see what it was forming: a giant skull and a serpent.

"Good God," Lily whispered; it hadn't struck her yet, but Hogwarts was under attack. By Lord Voldemort. That was his sign that the death eater had conjured. _The Daily Prophet_ called it "The Dark Mark."

"Hurry up, hurry up," she heard Peter Pettigrew mutter under his breadth, as he glanced apprehensively over his shoulder at the death eaters from time to time. She couldn't blame him.

Then, before any of the four knew what was happening, a jet of blue light hit the tip of the boat, and as if some great force had burst up in the center of the small boat, the wood planks sprung apart, and pushed the four of them into the water.

One of the boards hit Lily in the head, leaving her dazed for a moment, but Peter's shriek as he made contact with the water, brought her to her wits. She began to swim. In what direction she wasn't entirely sure, but she knew it was away from the screaming: away from the death eaters.

The water was unsettled from the boats and from the curses that hit the water. Splashes rose up here and there, and Lily soon lost sight of her other companions. She was growing tired too, never having realized how big the lake was. Her directions were confused, her head throbbed in pain, everything else ached as well, and for a moment she considered just sinking. The water was full of students now, and everything was growing hazy.

But Lily didn't stop and sink. Instead, she caught sight of a clear figure, swimming admirably a short distance in front of her. She decided to follow the figure. Before she had a clear idea of what was happening, she felt the sandy bank beneath her feet and Lily was staggering onto the ground. Sand turned to grass and Lily pulled herself up higher up the bank. Her troubles were far from over, however, for just as she began to stop to breathe, a patch of grass quite close to her hand lit fire. Apparently the curses weren't limited to the boats and water.

Lily got to her feet and saw the figure that she had followed. It was James Potter, and he was pulling of his uniform sweater and loosening his tie. He was dripping, and it was a moment before Lily realized that so must she too be. A gust of wind reminded her how cold it was. She approached James to say something (what exactly, she had no idea), when a shout just behind her caused both Head Boy and Girl to turn.

Peter Pettigrew was grasping dramatically at the grass (though he was already well out of the water) as if on the verge of death. James rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, Pete," he said, turning and approaching the fellow Marauder, then pulling him to his feet. "We should... shit!" A spell had hit the grass right near James's foot, and he jumped back suddenly. Hexes began to rain down on the bank, and for about ten seconds, James and Peter watched them in shock. Lily rolled her eyes and grabbed both of their wrists, pulling them after her. She ran.

She ran and ran and ran, just wanting to put distance between herself and the lake, but it was a moment before she realized something. They had swum to the wrong bank. They were running, not towards Hogwarts Castle, but strait into the Forbidden Forest. She didn't care. James and Peter wriggled loose, and they sprinted into the gap amongst the trees: into the black of the Forbidden Forest...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO 

_Note from the cook:_ Lily may be a little bossy in this chapter, but don't worry. She probably won't be as annoying in future chapters. Contrary? Yes. Sarcastic? Definitely yes. But not so bossy... Please leave a review!

**Luthien RhiannonCat5:**

I'm glad you liked James's train of thought on Korcesh and the Ministry inspectors, because there will be a lot of that sort of thing. Lots of thinking on everybody's part, but they're not always right... (:)(:)

**Samurai:**

I love your name, by the way. Samurai's rock! Anyway, here's a cookie: (:;). I hope you enjoy! Also, I hope you enjoy the story, despite the long chapters. I'll try not to make them too long, but I personally have always preferred the long chapter, unless the chapter is crap, which I certainly hope mine isn't. _Tear._

**Married2Sirius:**

Excuse me? YOU'RE married to Sirius? I don't think so, honey. LoL. Thanks for reviewing!

_Next chapter: _Running, breaking, losing, finding, fearing, north, south, logic, stupid, running, running, running, discovering, and spying. And who, in the name of all that is decent, is Harrighagen?


	4. The Harrighagen Strategy

_Note from the cook:_ I realize that VERY FREAKIN' soon, this story could become A/U, which would be very sad. So a couple of things could happen upon the release of _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince _(WHICH IS REALLY FREAKIN SOON! _Spazzes_)There may be nothing in the book that affects this, in which case I'll just go on normally. If there's something in the book that contradicts something in this story (or something that will be in it) I can change "shaken: not stirred" to apply, if the change doesn't completely defy the purpose of the story in the first place. If the change does completely defy the purpose of the story, then I will either go on A/U, or I will delete this. Review if you have any preference about which of the last two choices I should do, should they apply.

_Origins of the Recipe:_ I, Jewels, am not responsible for anything good that may come out of this recipe. All rights to J.K. Rowling.

_Recap of last time: _Death eaters attack the Hogwarts Express, and in the chaos, the students flee for the boats to get to the castle. Lily ends up in a boat with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, but when they have to swim for it, she ends up darting into the forbidden forest, with James and Peter.

_One last note from the cook:_ I'm not a fan of the Harrighagen stuff in this chapter, but it's sort of a necessary tribute to someone who may or may not end up reading this. If you do, you know who you are... lyl.

_**Chapter 4: The Harrighagen Strategy **_

"Quotations, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another,"-Ambrose Bierce 

And so they ran. And ran. And ran. And ran.

For about twenty minute strait they ran.

James was in the best shape and the fastest of the three, and therefore the farthest ahead, but Lily kept a sprint not far behind, despite her lack of shoes. Peter was probably the most terrified of the three, which was the primary reason that he could keep up at all.

Then suddenly James stopped, so Lily stopped, so Peter stopped.

Lily, panting slightly, walked up to James, who was stretching. The Head Girl suddenly realized how much her feet ached (how many rocks and twigs had she stepped on?) and she sat down to examine them. They were bleeding through her ankle-length white socks.

"Shit," she whispered, knowing that it would be impossible for her to run and improbable to walk.

James heard her and loosened up. "Where are your shoes?" he asked bluntly.

"At the station, unfortunately," groaned Lily. "Three inch heels are evil you know."

"No I don't know... I've never worn them, but I suppose if I had, I would agree," shrugged James. Peter came up behind them, panting violently and beating his chest. His round face was very red and sweaty. "Alright there, Wormtail?" James asked, helping his friend to sit on the log that Lily had situated herself on. He conjured Peter a jagged, oddly shaped goblet of water.

"I'm... fine..." gulped Peter through the water. "Why... didn't... we... just... apparate?"

"Can't," replied the Head Boy and Girl in unison.

"_You_... passed... the... apparation... test... Prongs..." Peter pointed out.

"You can't apparate on Hogwarts grounds," James replied, sitting down next to Peter. "There's a spell on it that makes it impossible."

"But... the... death eaters... at... the... station..."

"That's Hogsmeade," said James, "it's not technically on 'Hogwarts grounds.' Technically." This satisfied Peter and he resigned himself to resting to regain his strength and gulping the water. Lily, on the other hand, suddenly seemed preoccupied.

"Oh shit, shit, shit, shit," she whispered. James looked over and saw her fumbling about in the dark. Her robes had long since been discarded, and she only wore the uniform skirt, blouse, sweater, and tie. She was checking her pockets for something.

"What is it?" James asked apprehensively.

"My wand," whispered Lily, "it's gone."

"And they said you were smart!" exclaimed James, standing up and facing her. _"You lost your wand?"_

"I must have dropped it in the lake! Shit, shit, shit!" Lily rubbed her forehead as if it ached. James rolled his eyes and shifted his weight.

"You just... _let go_... while you were swimming," he murmured irritably, "Didn't you think you would need it?"

"Oh I'm _sorry_!" snapped Lily sarcastically, "I must have been a little distracted. Or didn't you notice the death eaters?" She stood up to face him, but her foot hurt so that she sat down again immediately.

"Yes I noticed the death eaters," said James, shaking his head, "but that's no reason to lose your head."

"I didn't lose my head; I lost my wand!" retorted Lily.

"Shhh! Listen!" whispered Peter suddenly. Lily and James both turned to see Peter, who was no longer red, but suddenly very pale. He was looking intently at nothing in particular, and he had the expression of one listening to something very quiet, that he could only barely hear. Head Boy and Girl listened.

There was a creaking sound. James and Lily started.

"Who knows what's in this forest? We should get out of here," said Lily, but looking down at her bleeding feet, that didn't seem like much of a possibility.

"Here," muttered James, throwing a wand to Lily. She glanced at it. It wasn't her own, and it wasn't familiar.

"You're not giving me your wand, are you?" Lily said slowly.

"No," said James, pulling out his own.

Lily looked perplexed.

"I picked it up off a death eater when I knocked him out," shrugged James. Lily nodded as if she understood, but James could tell that she didn't entirely. For a moment, she hesitated, and then she pointed the alien wand at her feet. She hesitated again.

"What is it?" demanded James.

"I... it's just..." stammered Lily, "the wand won't work as well, since I'm not the owner."

"It's just a simple healing charm," said James, but- for some reason unbeknownst to Lily- he didn't sound aggravated. "The cuts aren't too deep... hopefully..." James said slowly. Lily pulled her socks off, and James lit his wand too see her foot. "Okay, screw the last comment." James sighed. Putting the light out at the end of his wand ("Knox!"), he pointed his wand at her foot. "Sana!" he said with authority.

The bleeding stopped on the cuts and they began to scab over. They did not vanish completely however, and James looked disappointed. Lily used the wand that she held to clean her socks and she slipped them on. It still hurt when she stood, but her feet didn't ache as much.

Peter, meanwhile, was pacing. He had poured the remains of the water on his face, tossed the goblet, and now he simply paced nervously, eyes darting from tree to tree.

"The forest is awfully big," he muttered. "We must have run several miles..."

"Two or three," estimated James. "But you of all people should know the forest is bigger than that."

"_How_ should he know?" Lily asked, folding her arms and giving James an assessing look. He gave her a perfectly innocent one.

"Natural knowledge of geography, of course, Red."

"_Of course_," said Lily, rolling her eyes, "and don't call me 'Red.'"

"Right, Ginger."

"How many more miles do you think there are to the end of the forest?" Peter asked, for he hoped to avoid as many James/Lily arguments tonight as possible. "I mean, we ran three miles in, so how much farther does it go?"

"No saying," shrugged James, who was giving Lily a triumphant smirk, "and bare in mind we didn't just run strait."

Silence.

Lily sat down on the log again, burying her face in her hands, and James hit his forehead, comprehension dawning on him. Peter looked confused.

"What? What's the matter?"

"Nothing," groaned Lily, "we're just lost in the indefinitely large Forbidden Forest."

"Oh."

"Okay let's think calmly," said James, in a voice that showed he was most certainly not 'thinking calmly.' "We know the forest pretty well, right Wormtail?"

'Wormtail,' or Peter, shook his head, and sat down on the log in despair.

"Well _I _know the forest pretty well, anyway," said James. "I'm sure I can find the way..."

"I'm sure," muttered Lily sarcastically.

"Well... we just have to think calmly," continued James, beginning to pace.

"You already said that."

"Shut up, Red. I'm trying to think."

"Operative word being 'trying.'"

James cast her an aggravated glare but said nothing. He was still pacing and he ran a hand through all that black hair. Lily hated when he did this. She supposed it had become a bit of a nervous habit, and that he only did it right now because he was thinking hard, but she hated it nevertheless.

It reminded her of the original reason he had for messing up his hair: to make it look like he'd just stepped off a broomstick after a game of Quidditch: in other words, to attract the attention of any girl within a fifteen foot radius. But Lily was sure that's not what he was trying to do now. Almost.

"We should go this way," he said, after a moment, pointing in the direction they had been running from.

"Well that would follow," said Lily logically. She swung her legs over the log and stood, wincing slightly before adapting to the feeling in her feet. She lit her wand tip for a guide. James stepped over the log, and Peter stumbled over, and the three began to walk.

For about ten minutes they walked, and despite James's expression of confidence, Lily knew quite well that he had no idea where they were going. Nothing looked familiar. They had been running, not marking their path.

"Why did we have to run so far in?" moaned Peter after a little while.

"Because," answered Lily sharply.

Peter did not catch on at once that neither of his companions were in very good moods, and continued to ask questions. "Because why?"

"Because in Quidditch there's a certain strategy that we followed," interjected James, and he received confused looks from both Lily and Peter. "It's called the Harrighagen strategy... developed by some Quidditch player- a seeker- who lived six bzillion years ago in some foreign country."

"What _are_ you talking about?" Lily wanted to know. James went on in spite of her.

"And Harrighagen said the best strategy for a seeker- under any circumstances- is fly... and fly fast."

Lily raised an eyebrow at James's tangent. She was thoughtful for a moment about what it could mean, before arriving at a definite conclusion. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" she demanded.

James rolled his eyes. "It's _poetic_," he said coldly.

"It's _Quidditch,_" corrected Lily. "And it is most definitely not poetic. I know 'poetic' somewhat... and that is _not_ poetic."

James gave Lily a withering glare.

Peter cleared his throat. "What does 'fly fast' have to do with us?"

"Well actually it's not a very good strategy in Quidditch- not for a seeker anyway," said James, and he didn't release Lily from his glare. "The only seekers who do that are the new ones, who don't really know what they're doing and just want to do something so they look like they have skill. It's sometimes confused with the strategy of flying above the whole stadium, which is a good strategy... but not the Harrighagen one. But the Harrighagen strategy applies to us perfectly."

"We were running," Lily pointed out coldly, "not flying."

"And you're the girl who knows 'poetic,'" James muttered sarcastically. "The point is, we were flying and we didn't look back."

"_We were running_," persisted Lily.

James sighed irately, but said nothing. After a while, Peter spoke up.

"S-so what was all the Quidditch philosophical crap about?"

James rolled his eyes and walked ahead. "Never mind."

Presently, the three stopped in an area where the trees were less dense. Lily sat down on a moss-covered rock, and Peter on the dirt ground, but James paced. "If only I had some idea where the path was... in relation to us, I mean," he groused, "or one of the large clearings for that matter. I could tell you the way back easily, then."

"If only?" said Lily, massaging one foot. Then she added in an undertone, "A lot of good that does us."

"So what now?" panted Peter, who was more than slightly exhausted.

"My suggestion is..."

Lily stopped in mid-sentence. She had heard something: something more definitive than the creak earlier. The two present Marauders had heard it too, and stopped to listen. It was unmistakably a voice.

James straitened up and signaled for Lily and Peter to follow him. The two quietly got to their feet and followed James as he crept in a direction other than that which they had been traveling before. Lily might have snapped a twig or two as she snuck along, but it made no difference, for the noises of the night were becoming more distinct.

The vague sound of humanity both frightened and encouraged Lily; for one thing, it was simply encouraging to know that she wasn't the only one in the forbidden forest... besides two Marauders. However, it was frightening in that the question of who would be in the Forbidden Forest right now kept popping up.

The voice became clearer, but exactly what was being said was impossible to distinguish. Soon, Lily thought she could hear that it was a man's voice. It was deeper and more mature sounding than any students' was likely to be, and both Lily's anxiety and curiosity heightened.

James stopped suddenly. He was a few paces ahead, and was ducking behind the massive trunk of an evergreen. Lily approached, with Peter not far behind.

The Head Boy was listening intently, and so too did the Head Girl. Now she could hear two voices, both male and both similar, so that Lily had originally thought them to be one person. Curiosity overcame her, and she dared to peak around James's head and around the trunk at the source of the noise. There was a light a short distance ahead, and a tree (larger than the one they were standing behind) that would do to hide the seventh years if they crept closer.

Lily stepped out from behind the tree to go forward, but James stopped her. At least, he kicked her in the shins. She returned the favor by elbowing in the stomach, and then mouthing, "Shhh!" to him, stole to the larger tree (an oak) for a closer look. James followed with reluctance, and Peter with even more. Lily was cautiously peering around the edge of the trunk, and James did the same, only he had to bend farther out to see around Lily's ginger head.

There was a circular, basin-like clearing, about ten yards in diameter. Bewitched glowing orbs were situated on the dirt ground around the perimeter of the clearing, providing the only light. The outstretched tree branches overhead blocked out the moon entirely. There were no trees between three students' hiding tree and the clearing, and they got quite a clear view.

Two, tall figures clothed in black stood in the center. They looked identical, for though they wore no hood, the terrifying nearly faceless masks hid their faces. Lily's eyes widened when she saw them. Death Eaters... in the Forbidden Forest...

Peter was trembling, but neither of his companions noticed. They were listening intently to the conversation at hand.

"The fools," murmured one of the figures, who was pacing the bottom of the basin; his voice was deep and venomous. "They're bringing it here? The Master said not to. No one was to... damn fools. He'll hear about this, make no mistake."

"I told them not to," said the other in an equally deep and venomous tone, "but they wouldn't listen to me: said it was revenge. The Master's been planning this one for months, and he won't be pleased."

"It'll do us no good if they close the school," murmured the first death eater, stopping his pacing and staring through the mask at the other. "Which is exactly what will happen if they kill one."

"Not only that, we'll all be punished," agreed the second.

"Tell them to bring it here, if it's already in the forest there's not much we can do," continued the first; "but if it's harmed on the way, there will be consequences. From me, and from the Master. He'll be most displeased if we return and there's a _Prophet_ story about how one was _murdered._"

The second death eater bowed to the first, and walked to the edge of the clearing opposite Lily, James, and Peter, disappearing into the gap between the trees. The remaining death eater began to pace again, but there was no sign that he had any idea that he was not alone.

Lily turned back behind the tree, no longer watching the death eater. James and Peter (who had been peering around James's shoulder) followed the suit. "They're in the forest," breathed Lily, quietly enough so that James was the only one who heard. "How did they get in the forest?"

James shook his head. It _was_, after all, impossible to apparate on Hogwarts grounds, and that included the forest. Didn't it? There was only one way to find out.

"I'm gonna try to apparate," he said, in as quiet a tone as Lily's.

"_What_?" whispered Lily, "you can't!"

James shrugged. Lily was very pale as she watched him close his eyes and concentrate hard. But nothing happened. He couldn't apparate.

"Nothin' doing," he exhaled unobtrusively, "I can't do it."

"Is that because you're not good at apparating, or because of the spell," Lily whispered provocatively. James glared in an "if you're so smart, you do it" sort of way. Lily shut her eyes, and now James watched tauntingly as her face contorted in concentration. But she couldn't either. "Okay, you win; there's a spell," she admitted quietly.

Suddenly, however, a voice on the other side of the tree (in the clearing) reminded them both of the situation. It wasn't either of the original speakers, for this voice was much squeakier, and less intimidating. The three peered around the trunk again and saw a slightly shorter, stouter cloaked figure entering the clearing with haste.

"Sir, sir!" he said, rather loudly.

"Shhh!" hushed the original death eater, "what is it? And don't be so noisy about it. For all we know the other kind is wandering about!"

"They're bringing..."

"Yes I know. I've heard about the damn bastards' attempts... Closing the school isn't what the Master had in mind at all, and that's exactly what will happen if anything goes awry. And it took months to set up this clearing here. They'll ruin the whole job..."

"They merely want their fun," squeaked the other nervously; "They won't kill it, I'm sure. B-but why shouldn't they? Why's it so important that they don't... anyway?"

"Have you been taught to ask questions, boy?" snapped the taller death eater, beginning to pace again; "have you been taught to doubt the orders of your superiors? Do you think the Dark Lord will be pleased with that sort of behavior? You won't get anywhere but the Green room with that."

"O-o-oh of course," stammered the shorter man, bowing numerous times to the taller; "I didn't mean... only... why? Why don't we go in and take... him... the headmaster? Take the school?"

"Because that is not the plan," the other spat, "I thought they even told the low bastards like you about that. The school isn't why we're here. Even _he_... even Albus Dumbledore... isn't why we're here. It's only the beginning- the set-up- for things to come. Maybe next year, maybe the year after that. You're flaw, my sad fool, is that you do not look at the... _bigger_ picture. _And another_," he continued sharply, "is that you _do not pay attention during briefing_."

The smaller death eater cowered under the towering figure before him.

"But that is of little consequence. Someday we'll take Hogwarts, but not until the Master thinks the time is right. For the moment, we will simply do the job here- then leave. Or at least, most of us will."

"There _have_ been casualties," sighed the other.

"They don't tell you anything, do they?" spat the first, "never mind. Get out of my sight before I mistake you for an enemy and make use of my wand. Warn the ones carrying it that if it is harmed before I see it... they will face the Master and I will _not_ defend them. Not that I will anyway, but you needn't mention that."

The short man scurried out of the clearing and into the trees, but not two minutes had passed before he returned to the pacing superior. "They're here!" he announced.

A moment later, several cloaked figures appeared through the gap in the trees.

Lily's unspoken fears were fulfilled, as she saw what they were carrying. It was unmistakably a student, for Lily caught sight of the uniform tie and robe. Any more details about the captive were unclear; she couldn't see anything else about him or her. The Death Eaters crowded about the student, jeering and laughing loudly.

"Silence!" ordered the superior death eater angrily, "what have you done? So you really have taken one, have you? That was against the orders!"

"We took it for good reason!" snapped one of the death eaters who held the student. He pulled off his hood, but kept the mask on. "The little bitches have taken plenty of ours... and we wont take that lying down. _That's _not the Master's way."

"The _Master _will hear about this indeed," said the original speaker coldly. "Do not think I will defend you."

"We just want a little fun, that's all," returned the other menacingly, "we won't kill it. I swear. We'll return it to the castle good as new." A few of the others seemed to snicker.

"I will _not_ defend you," repeated the leading death eater, and he retreated to a spot on the opposite end of the clearing, making him invisible to the three seventh years.

Lily, James, and Peter recoiled behind the tree.

"We should go for help," Peter whispered at once.

"No time," contradicted James quietly, "who knows what they'll do to... whoever it is... before that. _And_ we're lost... remember?"

Silence. Or at least, silence among the three. The death eaters in the clearing were making plenty of noise. They sounded as if they enjoyed taunting the student, but it didn't seem like that could last much longer. Lily couldn't bear to listen to what would happen next.

"There has to be twenty of them," murmured Peter, "how can we fight that?"

"What do you think?" James whispered to Lily, surprising her slightly.

"I don't know," replied the redhead quietly, "If it's an older student who can handle himself, then we should try to go find help. But if it's a first year or a younger girl..."

"But we can't know," whispered Peter. "We can't see who it is."

Lily leaned against the tree. It gave her an idea. "I'll climb this," she breathed, patting the trunk and looking thoughtful. James and Peter both looked at her like they thought she had lost it. She didn't care.

"I'll climb up the tree," she continued on, very quietly, "and if can climb out on the limb, then I'll be able to see who the student they've captured is."

"You're crazy," James whispered, surprised.

Lily nodded. "It's incurable."

"I'll climb," said James in an undertone.

"I'm lighter than you. You'll break the thinner limbs," pointed out Lily.

"You've thought this through way too much."

"No, but never mind it," murmured Lily, "I'll go. The tree looks easy enough to climb. Only... you two turn around while I'm first going up."

"Why?" asked Peter blankly.

"Because I'm wearing a skirt," replied Lily.

"Fair enough," agreed James. Lily pulled off the sweater she wore over her blouse ("It's hot!" she mouthed) and tied it around her waist. She twisted a knot in her hair and secured it with the death eater's wand (for safe keeping). She then loosened her tie, rolled up her blouse sleeves, and placed a hand in a hole in the tree trunk. She secured a shoe-less foot on a particularly high root, then the other on a higher one that blended and became part of the trunk itself. She pulled herself up.

Next, she grabbed another branch with both hands, and swung (with difficulty) her legs onto yet another of the limbs. Her skirt was riding up somewhat, so when she turned to see if the Marauders were watching her, she was relieved to see that they were peering around the tree trunk into the clearing again.

The branches (at this point) were thick enough, so that she didn't rustle any leaves. Presently, she climbed to the center of the trunk, where all the limbs branched out from, and she picked one that spread out directly over the center of the clearing.

It was now safe to speak to get James and Peter's attention. "Guys!" she whispered, and they looked up at her, curiously. "If anything goes... follow James's strategy..."

"What's that?" whispered Peter thickly.

"Weren't you listening to all that Harrighagen rot?"

Then, grinning tauntingly at James, Lily turned and began to crawl an outstretched limb, which branched out over the clearing. The branch grew narrower and narrower, and soon, Lily had to stop crawling. The limb was still thick enough to support her (easily) but she didn't want to go on much further for caution sake.

Lily carefully lowered herself, so that she was lying on her chest on the branch. Her arms were wrapped tightly about it, and she could see down into the clearing with ease.

A girl of about sixteen lay on the ground. Her face was pale, but very beautiful, and her hair fell in long, golden curls. Lily knew the girl as a sixth year Gryffindor by the name of Redival Shelley.

Gasping slightly, Lily watched as the Death Eaters encircled the girl, laughing and jeering all the while. She was conscious, and her large blue eyes darted about the circle of death eaters, terrified, but she was obviously bound by some spell. Occasionally one would stoop to run a hand across her cheek, and sometimes another would guffaw and say, "What a pretty little thing? Who gets the first go at her?"

Lily sickened at the thought, but she couldn't do anything from where she was.

Slowly she loosened her cling to the branch, and tried to push herself up. But just as Lily thought she was in a situation to crawl backwards, one of her hands slipped, and so too did she.

She managed not to scream, and stopped the fall by grasping the branch again. She swung her legs up so that they crossed at the ankles and clung to the same branch her hands did. But she had shaken the limb so violently, that even the wildest of death eaters heard the rustling. They turned and looked directly at the trunk of the tree, and Lily prayed that James and Peter had had the reflexes to hide before they were spotted.

Lily could see one of the death eaters (they had all grown quiet) point his wand at the tree trunk, and approach it with caution. He was now so close, that if he looked directly up, he would see a ginger-haired seventeen year old girl, clinging to a branch, wearing a school skirt that was riding half-way up her thigh and a determined (if anxious) expression.

Fortunately, he did not look up.

_Un_fortunately, he raised his wand towards the trunk of the tree from which she hung and said suspiciously, "Labefacio Quercum!" The whole tree shook violently, and Lily's grip was loosened greatly. The death eater took several steps back, looking at the tree with an odd expression.

He stood there, watching and waiting for something, but Lily couldn't hold on much longer.

Her fingers grew sore.

He stood there.

They were aching.

He stood there.

They were slipping.

He stood there.

They were pinching the limb.

He stood there.

She couldn't hold on much longer.

He stood there.

She couldn't hold it at all. She fell.

She fell to the ground a few feet in front of the death eater, who jumped back in shock. Everyone stared at the seventeen-year-old girl, who had fallen ten feet from a tree, and now lay in heap on the slope of the basin-esque clearing.

Lily looked up and saw the death eater approaching her, wand directly pointed at her heart. The others were now coming up behind him, and for a moment, she didn't have a clue what to do next.

_'Run, James... Run you two gits... Get out of here...'_ Lily thought, trying to will them to run for it. She wasn't entirely sure that they would stay anyway, for though James was Gryffindor to the core, he _did_ seem to loathe Lily. _And_ she had told him to run, though, admittedly, James rarely listened to anything she said.

Lily had a clear enough view of Redival through the gap between two death eaters. She was managing to sit up, despite the bindings at her wrists and ankles.

Slowly, as the death eaters approached, silent but menacing, Lily tried to move her hand towards her wand, which still held up the knot in her hair.

"Don't even think about it," snapped the foremost attacker.

"Think about what?" asked Lily with more nerve than she knew. Her hand fell to her lap again, however.

"Oh now how sweet," said the death eater in a mock gentleness, "she's come to help her little friend." The others laughed mercilessly.

The death eater who had been so opposed to the others' kidnapping any students had disappeared, and Lily supposed he had left the clearing before she fell. She was defenseless against the death eaters, for all of them had their wands pointed directly at her, and she could neither physically reach them, nor reach her wand.

Suddenly, Lily found that she couldn't move her ankles or her wrists away from each other. One of the death eaters had bound them with a spell.

"Oh damn, just what I need." She couldn't squirm loose of the bonds, and she saw literally no hope for what would happen next. But then, something happened that temporarily lessened her fears.

Redival screamed on the top of her lungs, and all the death eaters turned to see what about. Lily was the first to notice the diversionary side of it, and did the only thing that came to mind. If she'd thought about her actions and how unlikely it was that they would work, she probably would never have found out what was odd about this clearing, and this story would be considerably shorter. As it was, Lily Evans was either very clever, or very lucky. Or very both.

She shut her eyes and concentrated.

There was a loud and sudden pop and Lily felt a familiar jolt in her stomach. When she opened her eyes, however, the sight was odd. She was sitting (still bound) on the opposite side of the clearing, with the backs of Redival and the death eaters to her, for they were all marveling at the fact that she had disappeared from her spot.

"What the hell?"

"There!" shouted a death eater, spotting her and pointing an angry finger in Lily's direction.

"Damn." She shut her eyes in an attempt to apparate somewhere else.

_Pop!_

She opened her eyes and found herself right next to Redival, even closer to the death eaters than before.

Swearing yet again, Lily tried to apparate somewhere else... anywhere else would do at the moment. Just to get help from the school. The next spot she found herself was right where she started, only now she was standing. But for some reason, she couldn't get herself to apparate out of the clearing.

The Death eaters were growing increasingly annoyed and bewildered.

"The bitch is old enough to apparate?" shouted one angrily.

"Well so are we," another pointed out reasonably.

"Catch her and knock her out," snapped the one who seemed to be leading the deal.

One of the death eaters close to Lily turned and saw her. "Stupefy!" he shouted, directing his wand at her. She apparated away just in time, but found herself a pace away from another one.

"I can't control it," she muttered to herself. The only thing to do was to keep apparating out of the way to keep them distracted. But she was getting exhausted, and eventually they would catch up with her.

A jet of red light flew past Lily and she apparated from the spot, finding herself right near the perimeter of the clearing. She had been aiming for a spot amongst the trees. But Lily stayed a moment too late, or so she thought. Suddenly, a warm feeling seized her, and she knew she had been hit by a spell.

Lily fell to her knees. She was waiting to pass out, to become dizzy, to do anything. But nothing happened. She glanced down at her hands, and discovered a shocking- but _very_ relieving- sight. Her wrists were separated. Standing, Lily saw that her feet were no longer bound. She looked up.

The death eaters had been temporarily distracted by another arrival into the clearing. James Potter.

Lily tore the wand from her hair and pointed it at Redival. "Liberabam," she said, and the sixth year's invisible bonds were taken away immediately. Redival pulled herself up and ran to Lily for directions. James and Peter (who had just arrived too) were now trying the apparation trick that Lily had used. James, being James, was doing it with more flare.

"No, no, no, I'm not over there you moron. Over here! No! here! Wait, wait! Here! Ooops! Almost got me that time. Oh wait. No you didn't!"

"He's going to get himself killed," sighed Lily to Redival.

"Well aren't you going to do something?" Redival asked.

"Yes, but you aren't," said Lily, suddenly businesslike, "run into the forest and climb a tree. Just hide, alright?"

"W-w-what? Why?"

"Because you don't have a wand and you can't apparate," said Lily, probably a little too harshly, "sorry, but it's true, and no one will be happy if you get yourself killed."

"Watch out!" Redival shrieked suddenly, and Lily dodged a stunning spell that nearly hit her in the shoulder. Lily remained firm.

"Go!" she cried, pushing Redival towards the forest. The sixth year reluctantly stumbled into the black, for though she may have had the Gryffindor courage, she also had common sense in her. Lily directed the wand she had towards a death eater that was advancing on Peter. "Receda!" she said with force, and though the death eater fell back, the spell did not have the same force it would have had with Lily's wand.

"No, no, no! I'm not over there! Hey, you great prat! Over here! No here! Nice, nice, but not nice enough. Oh! Too slow I guess! Oh that was close but... nope! Over here! Wait! Over here!" James was still taunting the death eaters as he apparated from spot to spot, but his fellow Marauder was having more difficultly. Lily tried to protect Peter to the best of her ability, but was finding it difficult, for the death eaters had suddenly remembered her, and she was a target again.

"James! Stop showing off!" she called to James, who had just apparated six feet off the ground in the center of the basin, before apparating to a spot along the perimeter on the ground.

"I'm n... oops! Almost got me there! Wait! Over here."

"Stupefy!" shouted Lily at a death eater near James. She missed, but the death eater had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. "Potter! Come ON!"

James apparated to a spot next to her (she started in surprise), picking off a death eater as he did so. "Where's Peter?" he demanded.

"Bloody Merlin! There!" pointed Lily. He was unconscious on the ground on the opposite end of the clearing.

"Damn," swore James, "er... _accio Peter!"_

Peter's unconscious self rolled over slightly, but didn't come to James as he had hoped.

"Nice," said Lily sarcastically.

"It's _hard _to summon bodies! Oops... _Pellete_!" An approaching death eater had to duck to avoid being hit by James's spell. "Apparate to the opposite side," James murmured to Lily, for every time they disappeared and reappeared in a new spot they threw in more confusion to the situation.

Lily complied. The next place she found herself was the opposite end of the clearing, right near half a dozen death eaters and the unconscious Peter. James Potter appeared next to her within a second, and, as if they had planned the whole thing, (they hadn't), Lily dived to the ground, grabbed Peter around his somewhat large waist and pulled him back towards James, who fought off the death eaters at wand point.

"Go back!" James shouted, and Lily wasn't sure if he was talking to her or to the death eaters. She pulled Peter around the perimeter of the clearing, shooting death eaters along the way, but mostly missing. Finally she managed to get Peter and herself to the edge opposite where they had started, and without even waiting to see if James followed, she ran, still lugging Peter, as fast as she could into the forest.

She struggled at first, before she finally felt safe enough to set Peter down for a moment and say, "Enerverate!" For the second time that evening, Peter's eyes flickered and opened.

"Wha...?" began Peter.

"Never mind, just come with me," Lily interrupted. She helped Peter to his feet and pulled him after her through the black of the trees. Her feet began to ache again, or perhaps they had been aching before, and she had forgotten to notice.

Finally they stopped, when the forest was deadly silent and Lily was sure that she and Peter weren't being followed. But they rested for only a minute, for soon they heard the crackling of leaves underfoot coming from the direction they had been running from. On alert, Lily stood from the log she rested on, and held her wand high above her head.

She was silent for a moment, until she saw a figure moving in the blackness. Lily squinted to deduce if it was James or if it was a death eater. An agonizing ten seconds passed as the Head Girl wondered what to do. She had almost determined to stun the person, whoever it was, when she heard "it" speak.

"If you're planning on stunning me, Red, I'll make sure you have detention for a month at least," said James Potter's voice. A moment later, James Potter's face became visible, and for the first time in quite some time, Lily breathed freely. Never before had she been _so_ relieved to hear James speak. In fact, never before had she been even _remotely_ relieved to hear him speak.

James approached, immediately checking to see whether the other two were okay. On determining that they were, he suggested they keep moving.

"We're still lost," Lily pointed out, sighing and collapsing on the log. "_And_ we have no idea where Redival is."

"You lost sight of her?" James demanded.

"I told her to leave," snapped Lily, "she's a sixth year and can't apparate, and she didn't have her wand. I didn't want her to cause trouble so I told her to run and hide up a tree."

"Do you honestly think that Redival Shelley can climb a tree?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well... why not? I can. Eden can. Lexi can."

"Not every girl was a tomboy when they were eleven though," James said pointedly.

"Lexi wasn't a tomboy," murmured Lily, but James didn't hear.

"But there's nothing we can do about it," he continued, "If we get lucky, we'll find her; if not, we'll just have to get out of here as soon as possible and tell Dumbledore to send a search party of sorts."

A creak from somewhere deeper in the forest caused everyone to jump. Lily shook off her nervous energy and said, "We should get out of here whatever we do."

No one argued, and they began to walk in the arbitrarily chosen direction that they had started down. Only a few moments passed before another sound took them by surprise. A scream. Everyone's mind immediately leaped to Redival, and they quickened their pace towards the scream.

Lily had lit her wand and was holding it up in front of them to light their way. A slightly-lighter-than-the-surroundings something was barely visible just ahead, but even with the lit wand they couldn't make out what it was. The scream sounded again.

James's eyes suddenly widened in comprehension, and he sprinted forward, leaving Lily and Peter bewildered. They jogged forward too, and caught up with James just in time to see something fall into his arms. The something was Redival.

If Lily had been in one of the old films she had used to watch when she was younger, it couldn't have been more perfect- for James and Redival anyway. They _were_ Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard. Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.

Redival's blue eyes stared in surprise into James's hazel ones for a moment. Lily couldn't resist rolling her own green ones. She shifted her wait and put her hands on her hips, now standing in the position that was somewhat her signature stance.

"When you two are_ done_," she murmured irritably.

"Oh... er..." James let Redival slip (gracefully) out of his arms and onto the ground. She nervously ran a hand through her strangely perfect golden locks and mumbled a "thank-you" to the three of them, dwelling slightly on James.

"You fell I suppose," stated Peter.

"Mhm."

"We should get a move on," interjected Lily.

James shook off the somewhat dazed expression on his face and Redival, though blushing, began to walk forward in the forest. Lily mumbled something about incompetent girls who could climb trees and followed. James and Peter brought up the rear, the latter giggling somewhat femininely and the former looking annoyed.

"So..." said Redival quietly, after a little while of walking into the darkness, "where are we going?"

"This way," Lily said, pointing forward.

"So this is the right direction?" Redival asked.

"Maybe," said Lily and James together.

"Maybe?"

"Well it could be," shrugged James.

"Could be?"

"Well," said Lily matter-of-factly, "if it's not this way, then it could be that way..." she pointed in the opposite direction, "or that way," she pointed in another direction, "or that way," she pointed somewhere else, "or..."

"In other words..." interrupted Redival.

"We're lost," stated the Head Boy and Girl.

"Lost?"

"You know," sighed Lily, "misplaced. Not present. Missing in action. AWOL..."

"I know what 'lost' means," said Redival gently, "but I didn't know _we_ were."

"Well we are," said Lily coolly.

Peter and James exchanged bewildered glances, but followed the Head Girl's lead as she continued deeper into the dark. No one spoke for a while, simply because there really wasn't anything to say. It was Peter who finally broke the silence among the four, and he did so with a conspicuous moan.

"It's too bad," he grumbled sadly, as he lagged behind the other three.

"What's too bad, Wormtail?" asked James, "that there probably won't be a start of term feast this year? Don't cry."

"No," said Peter quietly, "I just thought it was too bad that we don't know which way is north..."

James and Lily stopped walking and slowly turned to Peter. Redival kept walking for a moment, until she noticed the other two had stopped.

"What makes you say that?" Lily asked, eyes wide.

"Um... well..." began Peter, and he was somewhat nervous now that Lily and James both gave him such serious stares. "It's just that... the forest is south of the castle, so if we knew which way north was we could... what? What's the matter?"

James and Lily were staring at Peter. In one movement, the two had drawn their wands and placed them in the palm of their hands. They said in shaking voices: "Point me!" For a moment, the wands spun around on their palms, before finding the right position, and quivering slightly, much like a compass.

Lily didn't notice that James was doing the exact same thing she was, and was surprised to hear him say: "That way," at the same time as she did, pointing (at the same time as she did) in the direction that the front tips of their wands were facing.

Without questioning the two who probably outshined them in magical skill, Redival and Peter followed as James and Lily hurried in the direction they had pointed. They started out at a sprint, but soon were demoted to a jog, and- at Peter's request- eventually had to settle with a fast walk. They walked.

And walked. And walked. And walked. For twenty minutes.

But they didn't walk in silence.

"How do you know which way to go?" huffed Peter curiously.

"It's a simple spell," replied James, "but why didn't you tell us the castle is north of the forest? And how the hell did you know that anyway?"

Peter flushed slightly in pride. "Remember the thing that happened last October? With er... spiders?"

Comprehension dawned on James's sweaty and exhausted face. "Oh! Right... heh... forgot about that one."

"You're lucky," mumbled Peter. "I was in the hospital wing for two weeks."

"Mighty unlucky with that one you were, mate," agreed James, "but did ya see the biggest one? I'm glad he didn't spot us, or we'd have been in quite a situation. Even _with_ Sirius's... er... _distractions_."

Lily and Redival exchanged both bemused yet amused glances, but while the former discontinued any interest in the conversation after that, the latter remained intent. Lily rolled her eyes (_again_).

"But why didn't you mention that sooner?" Redival asked, picking up her pace slightly. She was now at the same speed as James, only slightly ahead of Lily, and several paces farther up than Peter.

"I dunno," Peter muttered, and he blushed; "I didn't know it would help."

"Well I should congratulate you two," Redival added, "I wouldn't have thought of that spell, you know." She looked meaningfully at James.

Redival Shelley wasn't part of what Lily deemed "James's fan club" but there was no doubting that she had a bit of a crush on him. Then again, half of Hogwarts's female population had a crush on him or Sirius. Lily excluded, of course.

Soon it was Lily walking the fastest and in the front of the procession. James and Redival chatted (though Redival was the one who did most of the talking) just behind Lily, and Peter still lagged. They continued to have athletic streaks and would pick up the pace to a sprint, but the three seventh years- having already had quite the workout- couldn't sustain this for too long, especially Peter.

"So..." Peter said after a while in this manner, "where do you reckon the end of the forest is?"

"That way," droned Lily and James, pointing forward.

"Alright," said Peter irritably, "but _when_ do you reckon the end of the forest is?"

"Soon," said James, deadpan.

"Don't worry; we'll be there soon," said Lily, trying to be the optimist. It was very odd, really. Lily was many things- hyper, pretty, clever, brave, sarcastic, somewhat crazy, a redhead... but she was _not_ an optimist.

"Ugh, my feet hurt," complained Redival, whose good humor at being in James Potter's company had evaporated slightly.

Lily couldn't resist casting Redival a glare ('_You have no idea'_ she thought), but the sixth year didn't notice.

"Do you think...?" Redival was just beginning to say, when James suddenly held up his hand and signaled silence. "Shhh," he whispered. Everyone halted.

"What?" whispered Lily, and she backtracked to be at the same spot as the others.

"That," James murmured, pointing in the direction that they were all walking.

Lily's eyes, as well as those of the other two, followed James's finger, and saw, between a gap in the trees, a very small light. Hope flooded the Head Girl, and without glancing at the others, she jogged forward.

James followed, and-with some disinclination so did Redival and Peter. They caught up with Lily and approached the light that still shown in the slowly growing gap in the trees. It didn't take long for them to reach the point where they could peak around the tree and see where they were.

"Are we in the right place?" Redival asked, whispering for no apparent reason.

Lily thought the answer was obvious. Just before them was a wood hut, which any student at Hogwarts-second year or above- could tell you belonged to Hagrid, the gamekeeper. Around the edge of the hut, just visible, was a grassy field, which sloped into a lake. The castle was blocked out from view by the hut, but there was no doubt in Lily's mind that they were "in the right place." Nobody answered Redival's question, because apparently they thought the answer was self-evident too.

Slowly and cautiously, James snuck around Lily and led the party out of their hiding place among the trees. He crept forward but kept cover behind the hut, which he peered around. The sight that he witnessed was a confusing one.

The lake was calm. No more boats sped from shore to shore, but the debris of several still floated on the surface. On the opposite bank, James could just make out the signs of more death eaters. They weren't alone, however. An exchange of spells, jinxes, hexes, and curses lit up the station platform where they fought with some unknown opponent ('_the staff?_' wondered James). The path up to the castle was crowded too, but from what James could see, those dashing up towards the school were students.

Unfortunately, there was likely to be some difficulty for the Forest Crew in getting to the castle. James thought carefully about his options, before signaling to the other three to join him behind Hagrid's hut. Once they were all crowded around him and peering around the edge of the hut, Lily- who was closest to him- said with a hint of sarcasm, "So... got any bright ideas?"

"I would like to remind you that it was Lily Evans- Queen of the Universe, who got us dragged into the forest..."

"And _I_ would like to remind _you, _James-My-Ego-Is-Bigger-Than-Australia-Potter, that, first of all, you were the one who led us poor people to the wrong bank, and secondly, that if we hadn't gone into the forest, then... very bad things... would have happened to dear Redival, here." Lily put an arm over Redival's shoulder as if they were suddenly the best friends in the world. She cast James a taunting look.

"When you two are done," Peter wheezed, rolling his eyes.

"The way I see it," said James (Lily scoffed slightly), "is that we have three options to get to the castle. Either we get swim the lake..."

"Fat chance," said Lily and Redival together. James now rolled his eyes.

"_What?"_ defended Lily, "I'm only now beginning to dry off... and I think I've spent about as much energy swimming as I possibly can."

"I agree," said Peter, who was still panting.

"Well then we can cut across through the forest," continued James reasonably.

"No," chorused the other three, looking lethal.

"Ya I didn't want that either," agreed James as he ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"Well then the only other thing we could do is go around the lake and cut across the path that the carriages normally take..." provided Lily thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I know. I was going to say that," grumbled James.

"Well you _weren't_ saying it," retorted Lily.

"Well I was _about_ to say it," James snapped.

"But what possible difference can it make?" demanded Lily.

"None, except that you're being a know-it-all," James murmured.

"I was NOT being a know-it-all. I was pointing out the bloody _obvious..._ and who died and made you Minister of Magic, anyway?_"_

"Who died and made you Queen of the Universe?"

"Presumably the last king/queen. And you may now address me as 'Your Royal Highness.'"

"I'd like to see you make me."

"I'll have your head chopped."

"Know-it-all."

"Stuff it."

"You _are_ a know-it-all though."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are..."

"GUYS!"

It was Peter, and both he and Redival were looking very annoyed. "That's _real_ mature, guys," said Redival, giving the Head Boy and Girl supercilious glares.

James and Lily, who had been about an inch apart and quite flushed in the argument (no matter how lame it was), backed down immediately. Lily bit her lip and looked away.

"Um... anyway," said James, clearing his throat. "What's it gonna be?"

Silence. No one particularly wanted to choose one of the three at all. Finally, Redival spoke bravely up. "I vote for swimming the lake," she said.

"I vote going around by the station," said James, and at the same time, Peter said: "We should cut through the edge of the forest."

Everyone's eyes drifted to Lily, but not for long was the redhead kept in torment over which to choose. A loud splash from the direction of the lake had everyone startled, and they peered around the corner of Hagrid's hut again to see what had happened. Apparently one of the "good guys" had tossed a death eater into the lake.

"Well I know one thing," said Lily coolly, "we shouldn't just stick around here..."

James was one step ahead of her. He pulled back around the hut and slipped past the others towards the back door of Hagrid's hut. Lily, Redival, and Peter gave him "should we be doing this?" looks, but James just shrugged.

He took the few steps up to the door and pulled it open. Slowly and confusedly, the three others followed, and entered the back entryway of Rubeus Hagrid's hut. James had been here several times before, and Lily and Peter once, but it was entirely new for Redival.

"Awfully small," she whispered, as they crept out of the small entryway and into the main room, which included the kitchen, dining space, and bedroom: all in one.

Lily gave the sixth year an irritable glare. "It is not," she defended; "it's a perfectly fine size."

Redival raised a meticulously sculpted eyebrow but said nothing. The four lingered unsurely for a moment about the center of the room, before drifting to the windows. They peered out in hope of seeing more clearly, but to not much avail. James sighed and retreated to the center, to pace again.

"Could we wait it out?" Peter suggested after a little while.

No one replied at first. "Someone should tell the teachers that there are death eaters in the forest... as soon as possible," said James in determination.

"The teachers seem a little preoccupied," remarked Lily as she observed the scene across the lake.

"We should get to the castle," said Redival firmly.

"Wouldn't you know it? Three of the most opinionated people ever to enter Hogwarts get stuck with different opinions," philosophized Lily. James smirked in spite of himself. Redival looked indignant.

"I'm not opinionated," she said simply.

Lily smiled out the window, but said nothing.

"We still haven't heard from the Queen of the Universe on what to do," James said after a moment of watching her carefully. "What do you vote for, Red?" Lily rolled her eyes for something like the millionth time that evening.

"Don't call me 'Red,' and I think we should go around by way of the station..."

"I 'gree," said a voice, but it wasn't James's, Redival's, or Peter's.

Everyone jumped at the towering figure of Rubeus Hagrid, who entered his house, looking even wilder than ever. He had a gash of blood on his cheek, his hair was more tangled than usual, and his face was sweaty- at least, what was visible from behind all that equally sweaty hair was.

"'Ello, Hagrid," said James, as casually as possible. "We could explain why we're here and all... but we'd be here till next Tuesday doing so."

"'Ello, James," said Hagrid, looking a little confused, "Lily, Peter, an'... not sure I'm knowin' your name, Miss..."

"Redival Shelley," said Redival automatically, and something in her eyes betrayed that she was more than a little bit intimidated by the gamekeeper.

"Nice ter meet yeh," said Hagrid politely, then he demanded- as if it was the most natural thing in the world: "now what are yer doin' in my house?"

"Sirius rescued Lily (Heaven knows why), our boat got blasted, nearly drowned, got lost in the forest, rescued whatsername... Redival, figured out north and south, and came to crash at your place." When James said this, he said this all very fast, and Hagrid only looked more confused.

"How much longer are yer plannin' on crashin' in m'house... messin' up m'stuff?" asked Hagrid, but he didn't sound angry. He eyed Peter, who was sitting on his bed. The Marauder quickly stood and blushed, but the gamekeeper smiled slightly.

"Only until some nice, really tall, gamekeeper helps us get back to the castle without getting killed," said James slickly.

"O'course," agreed Hagrid, his beetle black eyes sparkling in amusement at the Head Boy. "C'mon." He grabbed a crossbow from next to the door, and the four students- without having to be told twice- followed him out onto the grounds again.

"What do we do if we get separated?" Redival whispered to James. Lily was sure she saw the Head Boy give her a fleeting grin before he replied.

"Follow the Harrighagen strategy."

Redival looked at James as if he had lost his mind, and the four exited the hut, with the keeper of the keys as protection.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo 

_Note from the cook: _Okay there's this chapter. The geography of Hogwarts was closer to that in the first two HP movies, but I also took some liberties here and there. I thought the forest was south of the school. Of course, I'm not exactly sure how it works (in the books and in the movies) anyway... but humor me.

I'll be incredibly sad if you don't leave me a review. Surely it wasn't THAT bad that you read the whole darn thing but won't say how much it sucked, rocked, was boring, etc. etc. etc. flames are a waste of time for me, but feel free to leave as many as you like because I LOVE WASTING TIME! Woot! Thanks to my reviewers! Love to the flamers!

_Luthien RhiannonCat5_- Love your reviews! Thanks a ton for staying faithful and reviewing! I'm glad you don't find the fighting predictable, and I hope this chapter lives up to expectations! If not, feel free to tell me off! --

_Taz_- Thanks for reviewing! Glad you like it! And that's a good question... _where is Remus_? Something to think about...

_mkiara_- thanks for dropping me one. ( :; )

_beachbabe17-_ hope you keep reading! Thanks for the review!

_One last note from the cook_: I didn't love this chapter too much, but I did love one thing about it definitely. JAMES GAVE LILY A WITHERING GLARE! WOOT! I have never read a fanfic where James got to give Lily the withering glare. She always gets to give the freakin' withering glares. Hahahaha! Power to James! LoL, okay I'm insane. And I know it. Rewind and pretend this last A/N never happened. But don't you see my point? Lily gets all the fun stuff in fanfiction, like... giving withering glares! Surely all you appreciate the satisfaction that giving a withering glare can give. Sorry to ramble. Remember... this last A/N never happened.

_Next Chapter:_ Dumbledore, McGonagall, Lexi, Frank, Eden, Sirius, worries, all-nighters, speculation, secrets, and one somewhat crazy, supremely awesome Auror...


	5. Reflective, Protective

_Note From the cook: _ HBP applicable! Cheers, guys! Lol. Sorry it took me so damn long. Scroll to the bottom for my rationalizations!

_Origins of the Recipe_: this dish was originally taken from the work of Mr. J.K. Rowling. Jewels, today's cook, is not J.K.R. and therefore owns no rights and makes no money off it.

_Recap of Last Time:_ James, Lily, and Peter get lost in the forbidden forest, and stumble upon an interesting clearing, where it's possible to apparate. Unfortunately, Death Eaters are the ones responsible for this oddity, and a couple of rebels have kidnapped a sixth year, Redival Shelley. James, Lily, and Peter manage to rescue Redival and through some accidental genius on Peter's part, escape the forest. Observing the staff's battle with the death eaters, the four crash at Hagrid's hut, until he comes and offers them the opportunity to get back to the castle. This is where we pick up. (Long chapter, long recap.)

_One last note from the cook:_ There have been some minor, minor changes to the previous chapters. If you've already read them, there's no need to go back and read them again, although you can if you want. They're just some lil' things that help the story flow better. Lily and Remus have a more complicated friendship, and there's less detail on past James and Lily interactions.

_**Chapter 5- Reflective, Protective**_

(It's a long one, guys)

"_Things are only possible until they're not." _–Jean-Luc Picard (not as good as Kirk, but...)

"Accio shoes!"

A pair of black, three-inch-heeled school shoes flew into Lily's pale hands, just before she ducked behind Rubeus Hagrid again. James rolled his eyes.

"You're thinking of _shoes_ at a time like this?" he demanded loudly over the din, as Hagrid pushed the four of them out of the way.

"It's always the ideal time to think about shoes," retorted Lily coldly. With difficultly, she shoved her feet into the shoes (causing her to wince in pain) while Hagrid pushed them a little farther on, and a jet of red light came whizzing past his ear. It was tricky business- surviving the journey to the castle, that is. At the moment, they were in the thick of it.

Professor McGonagall wasn't the only teacher there now, nor was the female auror who had come with Korcesh the only Ministry worker. Six others, whom Lily assumed to be with the Ministry, dueled here with the Death Eaters. Besides Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick (Charms), Professor Avelar (Ancient Runes), Professor Kettleburn (Care of Magical Creatures), Professor Grossman (Herbology), and Professor Carmichael (Astronomy) were also putting up quite a fight.

"Quick!" shouted Hagrid, pushing James, Lily, Redival, and Peter forward rapidly, to avoid being hit. But it was too late for Peter. He was hit in the shoulder with a jet of blue light.

James's Quidditch reflexes snapped in immediately. He caught Peter before he hit the ground, and pulled him to his feet, but the Marauder was unconscious. James groaned. "Come on, Pete," he murmured, trying to drag his friend. Hagrid, jumping in front of a stunning spell, turned to the students and issued a command that was very simple, yet very complicated, at the same time.

"Run!"

Lily- businesslike- pointed her death eater's wand at Peter and said "Renerverate!"

This time, however, it was less successful. "Renerverate! Renerverate! Damn it... renerverate!"

"Reading between the lines, I'd say it's not working," snapped James, as they struggled up the slope towards the castle. Hagrid was staying on the platform below, which left the students on their own.

Redival, being the farthest up the hill, turned to help James pull Peter's unconscious self up. James left Peter with Redival momentarily, and turned to help Lily up, for she was having some difficulty with her shoes. But the glare she cast him was so contemptuous that he quickly changed his mind. Once she was up, the three moved as fast as they could- James lugging Peter- towards the castle. There was only a slight trickle of students still fleeing into the castle gates, which led Lily to assume (or rather, to hope) that most were already inside.

At the giant oak doors that opened up into the Entrance Hall, three figures stood, beckoning students in, and casting weary glances down the slope towards the Hogsmeade Station. One was Argus Filch, the Hogwarts Caretaker, another Professor Horace Slughorn- the Potions professor- (he gave Lily a grim sort of smile when he saw her), and the third was a completely unfamiliar, tall, slim man in his mid-thirties.

"Hurry up," said the stranger to Lily, Redival, and James.

James turned irritable eyes on the stranger ('_he's not the one lugging Peter Pettigrew around'_), but pulled his unconscious friend with a little more vigor.

Through the doors and into the enormous stone Entrance Hall, James, Redival, and (insensible) Peter went, but Lily hesitated. She glanced momentarily over her shoulder, surveying the sight. The professors were fighting down on the platform, which looked so distant now; a cloaked figure that Lily didn't recognize was levitating an unconscious student out of the lake; the forest, which appeared even more distant, looked calm and undisturbed. What a night it had been.

"Hurry, Lily," urged the Potions master, an unfamiliar look of slight fear in his large eyes. Lily tried to give him an encouraging look; she was pretty sure it came out more of a pained grimace. She passed into the entrance hall.

But Lily had never seen the entrance hall like this. It was dark. None of the torches that hung about the walls were lit. There weren't many students inside, either. About thirty stood huddled in a corner, but their stature and terrified expressions seemed to suggest that they were first years. James and Redival had waited curiously for the Head Girl, a few paces in.

"Get up to your common rooms as quickly as you can," Filch, the caretaker, was growling to the passing students. "Passwords are the same as at last year's end."

The stranger eyed James for a moment. "Take him up to the Hospital Wing," he said, indicating to Peter. James mentally groaned at the thought, but dragged Peter (holding him around the waste) towards the end of the massive hall, followed by a frantic Redival and a mocking Lily.

She raised the wand James had given her and flicked, and Peter suddenly went rigid. After a moment, he slipped out of a surprised James's arms and began to hover (still inert) a few inches off the ground. James glared.

"I was just about to do that," he mumbled.

"Of course you were."

"Don't you two start at it again," snapped Redival. "Or at least get us two to the infirmary before you do."

"What's the matter with you?" asked Lily as they hastened up the large marble staircase that led to (among other places) the Hospital Wing.

"I'm about to have a headache..." Redival replied, sighing.

Up the staircase, through the second floor corridor, up the left wing... getting to Hogwarts' hospital wing was so etched in Lily's memory that she didn't have to think about where they were going as they hurried along. And it was lucky, for she had a lot of other things to think about.

The Head Girl's thoughts were a blur.

Down on the platform, Dumbledore had been nowhere to be seen. Why wouldn't the Headmaster of all people be there? Where was he? It didn't sound like him to hide in his office...

But something in Lily wanted him desperately to be in his office. She wanted him to be at the school, because some sense of security still remained while Dumbledore was at Hogwarts. And anyway, if he wasn't at the station, he might be in some position to listen to their (Lily's and James's) story about the occurrences in the Forbidden Forest. Somehow, Lily wasn't afraid that the Headmaster would take the "Forbidden" part, to heart.

"Here we are," stated James, who was now levitating Peter, pushing the unconscious's head down so that it wouldn't hit the doorframe overhead. But Peter was apparently not the only one who was in need of medical attention. The Hospital wing was in a state of chaos.

"No, no, no, Thompson! You'll give him chicken pox if you give him that potion! The one in the _green_ bottle! For Heavens sake not _blue_! _Green!_"

Madame Pomfrey was the witch who manned all things medical at Hogwarts. At the moment, she was busy to say the least. She moved back and forth across the room, shouting directions to some older students who had apparently volunteered to help with the injured. She paused momentarily when the Head Boy and Girl entered with Redival and the unconscious Peter.

"Oh Heavens another one," she sighed; "put him on a free bed... and if there are none put him on the floor." With that, she hastened to a student who was vibrating uncontrollably in the corner. James levitated Peter over to the nearest free bed, and the two other stood awkwardly at the spot for a moment. Madame Pomfrey returned presently.

"Any of you hurt?" she demanded quickly as James came and stood next to Redival.

"No," they replied in unison. James looked over at Lily, eyebrows raised.

"What about your feet?"

Lily couldn't dream of mentioning a few scrapes on her feet and shook her head quickly. "I'm _fine_," she said in resolution.

"You're not _fine_," corrected James, surprised; "your feet are a bloody mess..." he paused... "_literally_!"

"I'm _fine,_" Lily repeated through gritted teeth.

"You're not bloody fine."

"I _am_ bloody fine."

"No you're not!"

"I think I would know."

"Oh yeah right."

"_I'm fine!_ And if you say another word I'll jinx you to 1991!"

Madame Pomfrey gave them bewildered looks. "If you're fine, leave. I have no need for... _Thompson_! Don't do that! Are you trying to _murder_ him?" She hurried away, and James, Redival, and Lily turned to leave.

"So... what's wrong with your feet?" Redival asked Lily.

Lily rolled her eyes. "_Nothing_."

"She's anti-shoe," James muttered.

"Oh shut up."

The three trekked along the passage that led towards the Gryffindor Tower Common Room. Lily was half wondering if they should go to Dumbledore's office, and see if he was there. She felt that it was absolutely imperative that he know about the Death Eaters in the forest, and the details of their conversation. But she was somewhat apprehensive about bringing it up, so for the time being, she remained silent.

Soon, however, her apprehensions vanished, as a tall figure came hurrying down the stair that James, Lily, and Redival were proceeding up.

"Professor!" gasped Lily. Albus Dumbledore was taking long strides and coming ever closer to the three exhausted students.

He looked different somehow... older. He was as tall and slim as ever, dressed in the familiar magnificent purple robes, his long, silver hair and beard falling to just above his waist. But his face seemed suddenly more lined, and his blue eyes had lost their almost constant twinkle.

"Professor," said James suddenly and urgently, and it was the first time he had spoken since the hospital wing; "we need to talk to you!"

"Is it pressing?" Dumbledore asked swiftly.

"It's about the death eaters," James went on hastily. Dumbledore, who had already paused, gave the Head Boy an intent look. "They're in the forest too. They've found a way to apparate on the grounds. To penetrate the spell..."

Dumbledore took two steps down, and was now only one step above of the students. "You have five minutes," he said in a predictably Dumbledore tone.

James took a deep breadth and embarked on the story. Lily interrupted here and there, but they avoided quarreling (it seemed rude in front of the Headmaster, after all) surprisingly well. Dumbledore's white eyebrows rose slightly when James finally drew a breadth and stopped. Lily resisted the urge to emphasize the point that falling from the tree was not really her fault at all, and she remained silent, watching carefully the Headmaster.

Dumbledore's blue eyes never wavered from James's hazel ones, even as he spoke to another. "Redival," the Headmaster said quietly, "will you please go to your common room and wait there? And will you also, not speak of your experiences to anyone?" It was a request, but Redival could not have dared to refuse. She nodded and hurried past the purple-cloaked wizard towards the Gryffindor tower.

"You two," Dumbledore continued quietly, once Redival had gone; his eyes now flickered to Lily; "would do me a favor if you would wait in my office. Caramel Cobwebs."

James nodded briskly, and though Lily wasn't entirely sure what Dumbledore's closing words were supposed to mean, she too acknowledged agreement. Dumbledore bowed slightly, then slipped past the Head Boy and Girl. When he had disappeared down the staircase, Lily glanced at James.

"Caramel Cobwebs? As in... the Honeydukes candy?"

"It's the password," replied James, and he began to hasten up the staircase. "He always has candies of some kinds for the password to his office." Lily followed, comprehension dawning on her. She had been to Dumbledore's office a handful of times (mostly for incidents that did not have a detention attached- unlike James), but she had never paid much heed to the passwords.

James came to the top of the stair, Lily at his heels, but they did not take the left that would take them to the Gryffindor common room as Redival had done. Instead, they climbed the right wing.

Soon, this stair blended and became level, branching out into a wide stone corridor. The path was familiar enough to Lily, but even more so to James, who did not have to pause once to think where he was going. They stopped about halfway down, where the quite conspicuous entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office was located.

A large, brilliant, if somewhat ugly, griffin stood, marking the spot.

"Caramel Cobwebs," said James confidently. Slowly the griffin began to turn, and soon revealed a spiraling staircase that both Heads knew led to Dumbledore's tower office. James stood aside. "After you," he said in a more than slightly patronizing tone.

"Ladies first," replied Lily coldly, bowing and allowing him to go before her.

"Oh well then you'd better not go in at all," James countered, not missing a beat. Lily gave him a "you're-so-funny-I-forgot-to-laugh" sort of grimace, then she stepped onto the stair before him. A "women-are-so-predictable" grin played on James's lips before he followed.

Dumbledore's tower office was large and circular. Oddly shaped instruments were situated in various spots throughout- most of them moving and projecting a whirring sound. All around the ceiling, portraits of mostly elderly witches and wizards snored noisily. They were the portraits of previous Headmasters of Hogwarts.

Immediately upon entering the office, Lily crossed the room and looked out the window. But the platform was not visible from here, and for a moment, the Head Girl wondered how Dumbledore had known about an attack on Hogwarts at all. It then occurred to her, however, that any member of the staff, upon discovering the death eaters, could have informed him. But that did not explain why it had taken the Headmaster so long to leave his office.

Thinking was beginning to hurt.

Lily sighed and walked around the desk to where James was standing. He was leaning casually against it facing the door on the wall opposite them, and she did the same.

"So what do you think?" she asked, surprising herself.

"I don't know," James replied simply. "It doesn't really make sense, does it? Why are they attacking Hogwarts if not to take it?"

"And what's the 'bigger picture'?"

"And how does Hogwarts fit in to it?"

The two pondered the questions for a moment.

Finally, Lily said, "Well then that just goes back to the first question. Why attack if not to take, damage, or close the school?" But no answer came to Lily, and apparently, not to James either. So they stood there, leaning against the desk, for several minutes in silence.

James was growing quite impatient. It was becoming increasingly difficult to stand here and wait, doing nothing, while he knew there was so much to be done outside. _He_ was capable of fighting the death eaters. He was of age. But there was no point in telling the teachers that, because they wouldn't listen. The unfairness of it all was incalculable.

But James was brought out of all reverie by the creaking of the office door. His and Lily's heads snapped up from resting on their chests (looking musingly at his or her shoes) at the sight of the opening door, but it was not Dumbledore who entered. It was Professor McGonagall.

She looked most un-McGonagall-like. Her black hair, always pulled so perfectly into a tight bun, was slightly loose, and at least three whole strands of hair had fallen free. Lily thought she would die of shock on that alone. McGonagall's robes were slightly dirty at the hem, and her face was pale and clammy. She wore no witch's hat (as was usual for her), and her long, slender wand was drawn. Her grey eyes settled on the Head Boy and Girl and gave them scrutinizing stares.

"Professor Dumbledore has asked me to come up here with you," she said presently, taking a step forward. Lily was inclined to take a step back, but didn't, because there was a desk behind her. "I hear you have a story to tell," McGonagall continued.

"How do we know it's really Minerva McGonagall?" James asked boldly. Lily gave him a "Bloody hell I can't believe you just said that out loud" look, which James expertly ignored. McGonagall raised a thin eyebrow.

James didn't exactly see what happened next, except that one moment Professor McGonagall was standing, tall and proud, before them, and a moment later, a tabby cat stood- shorter, but equally proud- in the same spot. The cat McGonagall gave them the same sort of stare that the human McGonagall would give, and she had the same markings around her eyes as Professor McGonagall's spectacles.

"I think it's probably her," Lily stage-whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

James made a face. Human McGonagall replaced the cat a moment later, and she stepped up to the Head Boy and Girl. "But how do we know you're not under the Imperius Curse?" James added presently.

"I'd have already killed you," replied McGonagall coolly. James was about to point out that the look on McGonagall's face seemed to imply that she wanted to kill him anyway at the moment, but Lily kicked him in the ankle rather hard, and he refrained.

The next thing that happened, however, made Lily slightly regretful- but only for a moment. Professor McGonagall raised her wand and pointed it directly at James and Lily. Both jumped, and had their own wands (or in Lily's case, the Death Eater's) out in a moment. McGonagall raised her eyebrows once more and flicked her wand. Two hard, rather dull chairs appeared in front of the Head Boy and Girl.

Lily replaced the wand she held immediately, but James was staring at the chairs in surprise, and took a moment longer to lower his own wand.

"Potter," Lily whispered.

"Wha... oh..."

James lowered his wand but did not put it away. McGonagall crossed the office and stood on the side of the desk that Dumbledore ought to have stood at. She did not sit down in his chair (the idea was borderline sacrilegious to everyone in the room), however. James's and Lily's eyes followed the professor, and when she came to a halt on the other side of the desk, they turned to face her.

"Sit down," she said simply.

Lily sat down, but James looked hesitant. "_Potter!"_ the Head Girl whispered again. James reluctantly took his seat on Lily's left and the two watched Professor McGonagall intently for a moment.

"Professor Dumbledore has given me an... abridged... version of your story," she said, her tone businesslike. It surprised James slightly, for he had been expecting that McGonagall would want the whole story; but McGonagall's apparent knowledge did put him at ease slightly. Slightly. "I have only a few questions," the professor went on; "where is Miss Shelley, now?"

"She went back to the common room," Lily said at once, earning herself a shifty glare from James. Professor McGonagall merely nodded.

"And Mr. Pettigrew?"

"Hospital Wing, Professor" replied Lily.

"And neither of you are hurt?" McGonagall pressed.

James suddenly gave a loud, false cough that sounded suspiciously like, "Feet." Lily rolled her eyes at him; "No, Professor," she said collectedly. "We're fine."

"You did not see any other students in the forest?"

"No, Professor."

"Potter, did you?"

"No."

"Potter... I would remind you I'm not Professor Casus and do not permit..."

"Sorry..." James interrupted; "I meant: no, sir... ma'am... Professor... no, Professor."

Lily held in a snort with great difficulty.

"And do you have any reason to believe that the Death Eaters took any other students, besides Miss Shelley?" McGonagall continued, as if James's answer had been satisfactory.

"I doubt it, Professor," and much to the surprise of all, it was James speaking; "it wasn't 'part of the plan.' Voldemort didn't want any students injured." McGonagall's steely eyes were intent on James, but he wasn't returning the stare. He was gazing over her shoulder at the dark night sky, visible through Dumbledore's window. He hadn't noticed her flinch slightly at the sound of 'the name.' He didn't notice Lily giving him an appraising look. He was completely thoughtful for about thirty seconds, then was awoken by the clanging silence.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Professor Dumbledore mentioned something about apparition..."

The questioning continued for a few more minutes without event. James seemed to snap out of his distrust, and was more cooperative with the answering. When it was finally through with, Professor McGonagall's posture straitened and she thanked the Heads for their assistance. "The Ministry is clearing up now," she said, answering the question that had gone unasked, but was burning in James's and Lily's brains. "The school will be highly protected now. Professor Dumbledore will be here shortly, and will, no doubt, want to question you as well, but after that you may go to bed in peace."

Lily seriously doubted this, but didn't say so. Instead, she said: "Have they caught any Death Eaters, Professor?"

Professor McGonagall was hesitant to answer. "I'm afraid I don't know many details at the moment. You'll hear more in the morning."

"Where will the first years sleep?" this from James.

"We've found accommodations until the Sorting can take place tomorrow..." The Professor paused, as if waiting to see if there were any more questions. It seemed to Lily that there were millions in her head, but she couldn't articulate any of them. "You'll stay here for a little longer yet," McGonagall said finally; "Goodnight."

She sidestepped the desk and the Heads and made for the exit. Only one question made it's way to Lily's lips before the professor exited the office.

"Thank-you," she said suddenly and loudly.

Professor McGonagall turned and gave her a curious look.

"Down on the platform. Er... before we went into the forest, right when we got off the train. There was a death eater... he was... he was using an unforgivable curse on me. 'Crucio.' Sirius... Black... said it was you who stopped him... it was, wasn't it?"

She didn't know why she was asking, but something about Sirius's explanation had seemed inadequate. James didn't have any idea what she was talking about, and gave her a look that clearly said so. But Lily didn't regret asking when McGonagall's slow but collected reply came

"On the platform? I'm afraid I have no recollection of every death eater I hit..."

"But he was performing the Cruciatus Curse," Lily reiterated.

"I am certain I did not see any of the Unforgivable Curses used on the platform, or anywhere else," the Transfiguration Teacher replied. And she turned and left. James looked at Lily, an eyebrow raised.

"Someone did 'Crucio' on you, did they?"

"Yes."

"Did it hurt?"

"Bloody hell, what do you think?"

James shrugged. "Well it must have hurt. You're in an awful mood." Lily sat down in the chair again, and a silence reigned momentarily. James was slouching terribly, as if he couldn't quite bring himself to compact his lanky figure into the space provided by the chair. His face was marked by unreadable thoughtfulness. Lily, meanwhile, was also in a pensive reverie.

It wasn't impossible that McGonagall had rescued her from the Cruciatus Curse on the platform, and it wasn't impossible that it was that Auror woman either. But she was burning with curiosity, though she didn't have the faintest idea why. Something about the whole situation felt odd.

It was like winning the game, and knowing the other team had let you win. Like there was no heart in it. Not that they could've won anyway- Lily supposed: not with Dumbledore here- but they knew that, and had to put up an obviously poor attack. They hadn't even attempted at the school, technically. The farthest they got was Hogsmeade, and they didn't try for anything more.

But why?

What was the "big picture?"

Why attack Hogwarts, without wanting to do anything to it?

The same questions as before were surfacing again. Everything was _so_ confusing.

"Alright then," said James finally- causing Lily to jump, "what do you suppose?"

"Suppose?" asked Lily innocently, though she had rather a clear idea what he was talking about. James seemed to read her mind.

"You know what I mean," he said.

"I dunno," Lily replied truthfully. James shook his head, as if to indicate that the same was true of him. An awkward silence followed, and neither Head Boy nor Girl was as usefully occupied as they had been in the previous silence.

For Lily, of all the inconsistencies of the day- all the confusing events, all the strange occurrences- this was the strangest. James Potter was Head Boy? Furthermore, she hadn't killed him yet? What was the world coming to?

Perhaps their conversation had been too agreeable, or perhaps Lily honestly did resent the action, but quite suddenly, she couldn't resist blurting out: "You were supposed to run." James cocked his head and gave her a curious look.

"Excuse me?"

"You. Were. Supposed. To. Run..." Lily repeated, enunciating every word clearly. Comprehension refused to dawn on the unfortunate Head Boy.

"What are you talking about, Red?" he demanded, thoroughly confused.

"Back in the forest," Lily clarified; "I told you when I climbed the tree, if anything went wrong, to run. And don't call me Red."

"And since when have I been demoted to taking orders from you?" (Lily wondered if he was referring to the "run" comment, or the "Red" one.)

"It was for your own safety, y'know."

"Well sorry if I decided it would be the gentlemanly thing to do to stop you from _dying._ To _rescue_ you, for Merlin's sake." He looked almost uncomfortable to phrase it like so.

"My hero."

"Perhaps you'd rather I hadn't bothered, Your Royal Highness the Queen of Ingratitude?"

"Well... alright,_ thank-you_, then... but that's not the point."

"Isn't it?"

"No!" Lily rolled her eyes for something like the zillionth time; "the point is, that you were supposed to run if anything went wrong. And something went wrong. Or didn't you notice?"

"Well for your information, I wasn't rescuing you for you... it was for... er... _Redival!_"

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"And you thought I couldn't take care of myself _and_ Redival?"

"I thought you couldn't take care of yourself... much _less_ Redival, so I thought I'd step in."

"How very masculine of you."

"How very stupid of me really. I'm beginning to wish I'd left you."

"Prat."

James snorted. "_Prat?_ That's the best you can do."

"I can do better, but I'm a lady, so I wont."

"Ha. Ya right."

"I _can_ do better!"

"No, I meant the 'lady' part."

"Oh shut up you cocky ba..."

"Professor!"

Lily mentally swore, as she heard James's exclamation.

She spun around and, with an expression not dissimilar to an owl's, saw where James was looking. Professor Dumbledore had just entered the office. He, unlike McGonagall, appeared completely untouched. A twinge of pink entered Lily's cheeks.

"Er... hello, sir," she said awkwardly. James snorted again; Lily kicked him.

The gesture was not as unobtrusive as she had hoped. For a moment, James thought he saw the amused twinkle reenter Professor Dumbledore's eyes- but only for a moment, and the moment it was gone, a heavy seriousness settled on the dark office, and James was almost sure that he had imagined it. He watched the Headmaster carefully, as the man crossed the office with a brief greeting to the Head Boy and Girl and sat at his desk across from them.

In his peripheral vision, James could see Lily straiten up slightly and even run a nervous hand through her thick ginger hair, perhaps in a hope of straitening it. The ends of James's mouth twitched, but he called upon all his recourses of self-control to maintain otherwise perfect signs of composure. Professor Dumbledore was preparing to speak.

"You've given me your story," he said in his cool, clear voice- so unnaturally calm; "or at least, you've given me part of your story. I should now like the rest."

A brief pause.

Then-

Lily plunged forward into the narrative, but James was apprehensive again. He did not speak, nor did he add anything to Evans's story, as he was tempted to. He did not stop the Head Girl from giving away everything and anything they knew; he noticed a few times that she left something out, or unnecessarily elaborated (such as the fact that the death eater hit the tree she had climbed _very_ hard indeed), or did not elaborate enough (such as James's apparition tricks), but he didn't say anything. He just watched Dumbledore.

The Headmaster listened in silence. He watched Lily closely, occasionally casting his eyes to James as if to see if the Head Boy had anything to add. He did not interrupt once, and did not, in fact, speak until Lily had finished. When he did speak, his words were pensive and deliberate- so very like Dumbledore.

"And what do you two think?"

A pause.

What _did_ he think?

James wasn't entirely sure he knew the answer. He thought something very odd was going on here, and James Potter was always one to speak his mind. So he did.

"I agree," Lily added presently in concurrence to James's statement. The oddest occurrence yet: Lily agreed with James. "Why would they attack Hogwarts?" she added, a little bewildered with herself.

Dumbledore's thoughtfulness increased- if that was possible. "There could be many reasons," he said cryptically.

"What time is it?" James asked, very abruptly. Lily gave him a "look," but glanced at her wristwatch. It wasn't working, probably because of the lake incident. Professor Dumbledore pulled out a golden pocket watch, and glanced at the face, which Lily could not see from her seat, but was curious to.

"Eight fifty-eight," Dumbledore observed.

"Two hours then," reasoned James. "That's a pretty lame attack for Voldemort. Over in two hours? He could've done better."

Lily thought hard about this for a moment. It invoked several interesting thoughts. Why would Voldemort stage a pitiful attack? Why bother? And how the hell did James know so much about Voldemort?

"And what other reason would exist to come to Hogwarts?" the Headmaster pressed. He did not speak as if he doubted James, but Lily wasn't quite sure if he was speaking rhetorically.

"To... er... scare everyone?" suggested James, lamely.

Dumbledore's eyes gleamed at James for a moment, before he said: "I have an apology to make to you two."

Lily could not have been more surprised. Well, maybe she could have. If Dumbledore had stood on his desk and started blasting fireworks out with his wand, while singing "99 Butterbeer Mugs on the Wall," she probably would've been a little more surprised. But realistically speaking, she could not have been.

"Do you?" James inquired, curious. "And does this apology merit a free-ride from any or all detentions one might get this year? I'm speaking on Red's behalf of course. You know her..."

"Yeah, I'm such a rebel."

"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore pressed. A ghost of a grin had flitted across his aged face, which suddenly seemed less aged. "In reality, it is an apology to the students and the school, but you two represent the students, and I will make it to you."

The confusion mounted.

"I was not at the school earlier this evening," Dumbledore said, in the tone of one confessing a sin. "I was... called away to the Ministry. My business there will most likely become evident eventually..." an odd expression flashed in his blue eyes... was it anger?- "but it isn't of importance now. I did not leave the school unprotected- I hope you understand- but I was careless to leave on this particular night. I hope you will forgive me."

And his voice projected absolute sincerity.

"Of course, Professor," Lily said earnestly.

"You couldn't have known," James added.

Dumbledore said nothing but bowed his head.

"And now, I must ask you to speak of your encounter in the forest to no one," Dumbledore continued presently. "It is of the utmost importance. And when Peter Pettigrew is speaking again, I ask that you also inform him of this as well."

Lily nodded, and James mumbled an affirmative answer.

"This year," Professor Dumbledore continued, "will not be an easy one. The students will not be at rest, and there will, undoubtedly, be higher security measures taken to ensure the safety of all. Your task, as Head Boy and Girl, will be to calm your fellow students, without making them complacent." The glint returned to Dumbledore's eyes, as he noted the expressions on the faces of the two students before him. "Do you feel ready?" he asked, and it was not clear if he was joking or not.

Lily thought. Did she feel ready? There was to be no lying to Dumbledore.

"No," was the simultaneous reply of both.

A smile flickered across the aged face of the Headmaster. "I wouldn't expect anything less," he said.

"Then... then the school is going to stay open?" Lily couldn't help but stammer nervously.

Professor Dumbledore paused. "Yes," he said simply. He did not elaborate, and he did not explain how he knew this, but he said it with the utmost confidence, and Lily couldn't doubt his word. She nodded.

Dumbledore bowed his head again and said, "Goodnight."

And that meant it was time to go. The Head Boy and Girl turned and left the office, more than slightly confused. Dumbledore was a great wizard and all, but he was positively mad.

They walked toward the Gryffindor Tower. They didn't know where else they were supposed to go.

Lily didn't think her brain could handle any more of Dumbledore's cryptic messages, and she forced them out of her mind with more unpleasant thoughts, that had been temporarily driven out. Namely, Eden, Alice, and Lexi. What had happened to them? She hadn't seen them since the Hogwarts Express. They'd disappeared almost immediately after the lights had gone out. Eden and Alice had gone to help the younger kids, but Lily hadn't known what had become of Lexi. And now, Lily didn't know what had become of any of them.

She silently prayed for their safety, and some of her anxiety must have shown on her face, for James- seeming to read her thoughts- said (with surprising warmth), "I'm sure everyone's okay."

Lily gave him a "you're so naïve" look. "And what makes you so sure?" she asked shortly. She privately regretted her sharpness, but she needed someone to vent at, and James was what was available.

"Don't tell me you went temporarily deaf in the Forest," James said, the coldness in his voice returning. "_They don't want to kill any students_... remember? The only death eater who seemed sensible of Voldemort's plans kept saying so. He said they'd be in trouble if they killed anyone, and if the school was closed."

"And..." Lily admitted, now falling into step and conversation with James... "They only used moderately powerful hexes on the train and stuff. Nothing serious. I only saw one Unforgivable curse used on..."

"You," finished James. "And someone stopped that before you got seriously hurt. I didn't see a single killing curse."

"Me either," agreed Lily.

"And," James pressed- they were walking very fast now, as if to keep up with their similar trains of thought- "they didn't really pursue us in the forest."

Silence.

Lily pouted. "The only thing they could've done more to make sure Hogwarts stays around, would be to not attack at all."

James had nothing to say to that, so he changed the subject. "What do you think Dumbledore was doing at the Ministry?"

"'It will most likely be made evident eventually?'" Lily quoted, sighing. "Whatever that means." And with that final lament, they came to the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

There was a large portrait of a rather fat lady in a flowing and frilly pink dress. The lady- most commonly known as just: The Fat Lady- gave James and Lily apprehensive stares.

Lily supposed the Fat Lady expected James and herself to star tearing at each other's hair.

"Er... any news?" the Fat Lady in the Portrait asked, a little confused.

"'Fraid not," shrugged James.

The Fat Lady sighed. "Very well... password?"

James cast a sideways glance at Lily. "You remember the password, don't you?"

Lily bit her lip, trying to remember. "Wasn't it like... toad spawn... or something?" She glanced hopefully up at the Fat Lady. "Toad spawn?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Damn it."

" 'Toad spawn?' That was the beginning of like... fifth year, Red."

"Oh shut up. And don't call me Red."

"Wasn't it in another language or something?"

Lily tried to remember.

"Why'd you make up a hard password?" James whined to the Fat Lady.

The Fat Lady smiled at James slightly. "I didn't make up _this_ password. It was the prefects who requested it."

"Well then it's the damn prefects' fault for making the passwords so compli..." James stopped suddenly. "W-w-w-wait! _You_ were prefect, Red!"

"Damn. I was hoping you'd forget... and don't call me Red."

"Well stop hoping and remember the bloody password that _you_ made up!"

Lily tried to remember. "It was something in another language..."

"Ha! Told you so!"

"Shut up. Um... oh! I got it! Écarlate!" Lily said the last word with great alacrity. The portrait swung open, and James sighed in relief.

"Glad I remembered that one," he muttered.

"Prat," mumbled Lily. They entered the common room.

It was a large and circular room. It was also very noisy, full of anxious enquiries, swapping of theories, and even sobs. When the portrait hole closed behind the Head students, everything seemed to pause however. Whether it was out of relief that two of the school's most popular students were all right, or else out of surprise that they weren't strangling eachother, Lily didn't know, but it did grow quieter rather quickly.

It was the calm before the storm, for after some ten seconds of quiet had passed, everyone rushed to them, and there was a flurry of 'did you see so-and-so when you came in?' and 'what's going on?' and 'where's Dumbledore?' and 'are you guys alright?' For the next minute, Lily felt like a celebrity, until finally, James, who was far more used to this sort of thing (probably due to the experience gained at post-Quidditch game parties) raised his voice and told everyone to back off, and that they hadn't seen so-and-so, did not know what was going on, did not know where Dumbledore was, and that they were both fine. Most people backed down after that.

But one girl did not. As people began to walk back to the fire, where most of the Gryffindors had been huddled up before, Redival Shelley came closer to James and Lily, who had not yet parted ways. The sixth year gave them both a quick hug, gave James a kiss on the cheek, and spoke to them quite earnestly.

"Listen, I... wanted to thank you guys for saving me out in the forest," she said quietly, glancing down at her hands.

"Well we couldn't very well leave you there, could we?" Lily said, with warmness that outdid any she had used in the Forest. The melodrama of the term "saving me" did not escape her, but she didn't mind. James rolled his eyes at Lily's inconsistency.

"Ya, we just happened to be in the neighborhood, y'know," he added, hoping to lighten the mood slightly. Redival grinned up at them, dwelling on James, and then returned to the fire. James raised an eyebrow at Lily, and followed her.

The head girl, however, had different plans. From where she stood, just before the portrait hole, she scanned the room anxiously. Eden and Alice were nowhere to be found, but in the corner, sat Lexi. She was braiding a few strands of wet black hair, her eyes averted, and Lily knew she was waiting for her to come over to talk.

She crossed the room, and sat in a chair next to her. She kicked off her shoes, and said, by way of greeting: "You alright?"

"Mhm. You?"

"Alive anyway."

A pause.

"Seen Eden or Alice?" this from Lily again.

"No, we were gonna ask you that," replied Lexi. She let loose her wet braid, but it didn't come undone immediately. Lily observed a slight gash on her friend's forehead. She also observed that though her hair was dripping, her robes were quite dry.

"How'd that happen?" she asked, pointing to the bloody cut.

Lexi felt the spot, then shook her head. "Dunno." She glanced at Lily, who was in much worse shape. "You're socks are bleeding," she observed, deadpan. The redhead glanced down at her feet, which were, indeed, bleeding again. She pulled the socks off, and Lexi winced. "Lovely."

"Mhm."

"What happened?"

Lily found herself suddenly in an internal war. She wanted to tell Lexi everything; she wanted to admit it all, and get her friend's advice and view on the matter. She wanted to see Lexi's interpretation of the events, because Lexi was almost always right. But she had promised not to, and Lily always kept her promises... at least, when she could.

"Well there were these Death Eaters on the platform, y'see..."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "We see. So you have an army of serial killers with a vendetta against your feet..."

"Something along those lines, ya," shrugged Lily. The mood between them was light at least, and as long as it stayed so for a little longer, Lily thought she could overcome urges to spill her heart and head out to Lexi. "What about you? Injuries of any sort? Dying of a lethal poison you happened to inhale or anything?"

"Fine," mumbled Lexi; she slipped off her thin-framed glasses and rubbed them nervously with the sleeve of her robe.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked seriously, in spite of herself.

Lexi appeared distracted for a moment. "N-nothing. I mean, well, everything. The whole thing. There are death eaters outside, Lily." She was almost shaking, which caused Lily more shock than anything so far this evening (including James Potter's head boy-ship). Seeing Lexi lose control, even for a moment, was an absolutely alien concept to Lily. A moment later, however, composure passed into Lexi's averted brown eyes, and her pale face calmed. "Abby's in the infirmary," she added quietly, and it was the real reason she was shaking.

Abby Shaw was Lexi's fifth year sister. Lily watched her friend piteously. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"She'll be alright, I expect," Lexi replied.

"She's tough. Of course she will be. And anyway, she knows she'd have you to deal with if she wasn't."

Lily watched as a fuller level of equanimity came over the girl next to her, and a moment later, Lexi was back. The normal Lexi. "Frank's in the hospital wing too," she said to the redhead, and it didn't bring about the loss of self-control that Abby's danger had.

"What's the matter with him?"

"We dunno. He got hit by something on the train before we even got to him. Alice helped us get him to the castle though, or we don't know how we would've managed to levitate him and cover self at the same time."

"And you don't know what happened to Alice after that?"

Lexi shook her head. "we lost her once we got to the castle, but methinks she went back."

"Went back?" Lily marveled at the idea.

"We would've too, only we had to get Frank to the hospital wing, and then Slughorn and Filch and that new professor made us come back here."

"That other bloke by the door is a new professor?"

"Teaches DADA."

"Ah. To replace Casus."

"Well Casus definitely needed replacing, after what happened last year, didn't he?"

Lily didn't want to digress. "So no idea what happened to Frank?"

Lexi shook her head. "We saw Eddie in the hospital wing too, Eddie Bones, I mean, but he was the only other friend we recognized there. We think his leg was broken."

Privately glad that it was such a minor injury, Lily nodded. Madame Pomfrey could mend broken bones in two seconds. Lexi's thoughts were differently occupied. "Do you think they'll close the school?" she asked calmly.

"Dumbledore doesn't think so," replied Lily, before she thought about what she was saying.

"You've spoken to Dumbledore?" her friend asked in surprise.

"Wha... oh ya, I ran into him on the stair."

If Lexi found this odd, she didn't say so. Instead, she scanned the common room once again. "We wishes we knew what happened to the others," she reiterated.

Lily expressed agreement, before adding: "I'm sure they'll be alright though. They're both tough... can't find better witches anywhere..." Lexi nodded.

"You know what's odd?" she said thoughtfully to Lily; "WE didn't see a single Unforgivable Curse. We didn't see anyone killed... the most serious thing we saw was maybe 'Impedimenta.' Did you?"

"Erm... no I don't think..."

"Wonder why that is."

Lily inwardly smiled at her friend's quickness. "It would suggest," she said casually but slowly, though she managed to convince herself that this wasn't in any way, shape, or form breaking her promise to the Headmaster; "that they didn't want to kill anyone."

"We concur," agreed Lexi. "So why attack at all?"

"Maybe they just wanted to er... scare us," shrugged Lily; she was desperate for Lexi's contradiction and input. Any answer would be a good one at this point.

"Mmm, maybe."

This wouldn't do. "Or maybe," goaded Lily, irritable at Lexi's unhelpfulness; "maybe there's a bigger picture that we're missing. I mean, why attack Hogwarts if they don't want to kill anyone?"

"They didn't," said Lexi, taking Lily by surprise.

"What do you...?"

"They didn't attack Hogwarts," she explained simply. "They attacked Hogsmeade." Lexi stood up suddenly. "I-I need to go upstairs. Try to sleep or something. Fetch us if there's any word on Eden or Alice or anyone, won't you?"

"Mhm."

Lily's eyes were wide as she watched Lexi slouch slowly towards the girls' dormitories. She'd been deeply affected, no doubt, and Lily wondered if it was Abby's injuries, or something else that was responsible. Lexi was all things logical, but her reaction was so odd, that she seemed almost (almost, but not quite) out of character. But, Lily realized, as Lexi disappeared completely, she'd only seen Lexi loose composure once. But she'd been angry then... not distracted, like this. Lily watched the stairway to the dormitories long after Lexi had gone.

And she simply sat there, waiting. Thinking was painful, and remembering was troublesome, so she sat there, deadpan and blank, waiting for Alice, or Eden, or something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She just waited for something to happen.

How long she waited, Lily didn't know, but about a dozen other people had gone up to their dormitories too by the time she pulled out of her reverie. The Common Room, though still crowded, had quieted greatly, as everyone seemed to run out of things to say. The atmosphere was thick and depressed.

Lily, now awake, scrutinized the room. James was sitting near the fire, in the center of attention as always, with Redival sitting nearby, whispering things to him occasionally. But he didn't look like he was listening. He alternated staring at the back of the portrait, and at the still roaring fire. None of his fellow Marauders were in the room, so Lily was pretty sure that Redival was fighting a losing battle in trying to get James Potter's attention at the moment.

Rachel Brossle, the only other seventh year Gryffindor girl with whom Lily had not spoken today, sat in the corner, and her eyes were red. Rachel was a tough girl, and it surprised Lily to see that she'd been crying. She was not surrounded by her usual group of sixth year friends (included in which was Redival Shelley); rather, she sat quite alone.

It was a night for anomalies.

The portrait hole opened and emitted another Gryffindor every once in a while, but by the time a few hours had slipped by, this had occurred less and less. The Gryffindors were beginning to worry. Lily was considering starting a search for Eden and Alice- beginning with the hospital wing- when, around eleven o'clock, the portrait finally opened again, and produced Professor McGonagall.

She was no longer disheveled and she had apparently changed her robes (though they were almost identical to the emerald ones she had worn earlier). McGonagall's entrance threw the already quiet room into absolute silence. She crossed to the center of the circular room, and it was obvious that her intention was to make an announcement. The Gryffindors seemed to come to themselves the moment they figured this out, and in an instant, most of the population of the common room had dashed to her side and were begging information.

"Quiet, please!" said McGonagall authoritatively; she spoke loudly and clearly, but she did not shout. Lily stood slowly and walked to where the crowd accosted the unfortunate deputy headmistress. "I've been asked to come here and _request_..." she said the word with almost contempt... "that you all go to bed soon."

There was an uproar of demands concerning the death eaters and absent students. McGonagall silenced them with a look.

"The situation is under control," she said, once everyone had more or less calmed. "Aurors and Ministry wizards will be posted around the school and around Hogsmeade for protection. As far as we know, there have been no... no student casualties. If someone you know is missing, it is likely they are in the Hospital wing at the moment. You may be able to visit them in the morning, depending on Madame Pomfrey's generosity."

Everyone exchanged curious glances, either doubting Madame Pomfrey's "generosity", or pondering McGonagall's speech. The Transfiguration teacher didn't seem to notice. She turned, and the crowd behind her parted to let her back through the portrait hole. Before she left, McGonagall turned and said, most un-McGonagall-like: "Please, go to bed." Then she was gone.

No one went to bed.

McGonagall's news, though unhelpfully information-free, did give way to plenty more discussion. Muttering and whispering, the students spread about in packs, most of them returning to the fireside. Lily saw James begin to retreat towards the boys' dormitories.

But then the portrait hole opened again.

Two familiar (and welcome) seventh years entered.

At the sight of Eden Dearborn, drenched and still dressed in jeans and a loose white blouse (she had a wool blanket wrapped around her), Lily's face couldn't help but break into a thoroughly relieved smile. Leave it to Eden to insist on making an entrance.

Sirius was with her. He wasn't wet, and he looked quite proud of himself for having arrived so fashionably late. James was grinning as he crossed to Sirius and said simply: "You're late as usual, Padfoot." Sirius- or Padfoot- grinned as well and replied: "Ya, ran into a spot of trouble with Filch and McGonagall- y'know how it goes."

Lily barely paid them heed, and hugged Eden briefly (ignoring the fact that she got herself a little wet in doing so). Eden smiled weakly and followed Lily to a corner where they could sit down and talk.

"You're wet, aren't you?" said Lily, by way of greeting.

Eden glanced down at herself. "Mhm. And McGonagall was a prick and wouldn't dry me. She just conjured me a towel."

"I can only imagine the taunts you suffered," said Lily, biting her lip to hold back a smirk.

Eden rolled her eyes. "Remind me never to wear a white blouse if there is any chance of encountering Sirius Black," she said irately.

"Check."

"Thanks."

They looked expectantly at eachother for a moment, before Eden continued. "Be a love and dry me off, wont ya? I can't for the life of me remember the charm that dries clothes... I tried 'scourgify' but all that did was get rid of some mud..."

Lily drew the death eater's wand that she now possessed and flicked it once. Eden's clothes and skin immediately dried, but her shoulder-length blonde hair was still wet. She didn't seem to notice; instead, she was looking at the wand in Lily's hand.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked thoughtfully.

"Wha? Oh... the wand? Long story. Um... I found it. I must've lost mine in the lake or something... the boat I was in capsized..."

Eden smiled slightly and drew about half a dozen wands from the pocket of her jeans. She looked at them carefully for a moment, before handing one to Lily. Towards the bottom of the handle, carved crudely, were the letters, "L.E."

"You found it?" asked Lily, in disbelief.

"Obviously. It was stuck in the side of the bank in the lank, and nearly lanced me in the stomach. Your wand hurts like hell, gorgeous." Eden made a face as she put the other wands in her pocket again, and, realizing she didn't need it anymore, dropped the damp wool blanket onto the Common Room floor.

"Where'd the other wands come from?" asked Lily, though she had a suspicion.

"Some I found, some I took from downed Death Eaters," Eden replied simply. Her voice was quieter and much less exuberant for a moment, before it returned to normal Edenness. "Er... anyway... um... you look like shit. What happened with you?"

"Nothing. I had a normal, carefree evening. I just didn't put any make-up on this morning."

"Where's Lexi?" Eden pressed, for she must have guessed that Lily didn't want to talk about tonight.

"Upstairs. Sitting down here waiting for you was depressing, y'know. Where's Alice? Haven't seen her, have you?"

"Hospital Wing," murmured Eden. "Don't worry, she'll be alright," she added, catching a look in Lily's eye. "But she did get beat up pretty bad. When I found her, she was dueling at least four death eaters down on the train tracks."

Suddenly, Lily felt that her own evening might not have been as unusual (comparatively) as she had thought.

"She broke an arm, and something went wrong with her ankle too," Eden was saying; "so I took her up to the castle. Frank Longbottom took her to the hospital wing from there."

"Frank Longbottom? I wonder how he got back out..."

Eden raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Lexi said she found him unconscious outside. He must've argued with Slughorn and left the castle to fight again once he'd gotten Alice to the hospital wing."

"If he did, it's quite an accomplishment. Slughorn _made_ Black, Remus, and me come inside about twenty minutes ago, and he wouldn't here a word we said."

Lily only caught part of this. Two questions came to mind, but she only voiced one, for fear of Eden's wrath. "Where's Remus?" she asked quickly.

"Hospital Wing," sighed Eden; it was the answer-of-the-night. "He had an extra limb... a second year hit him with a wonky spell."

Eden tugged a lock of wet blonde hair and Lily watched her intently. "So why are you so late, anyway, Eden Dearborn? We've been worried sick over you, I'll have you know. We don't have any faith in your survival skills."

"I was helping fight off the death eaters, Mom," replied Eden earnestly. "And why are you back so early?"

This took Lily aback slightly. Eden realized it.

"Merlin! I didn't mean it that way, Lily," she said hastily. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"It's fine, E."

"No I..."

"Fine, Eden."

"But..."

"Eden."

"I'm..."

"_Eden._"

"Okay."

Eden's already flushed face reddened a little more. She bit her lip. "Really sorry," she muttered.

"McGonagall wants us to go to bed," stated Lily, ignoring this. A few other students were drifting slowly towards their own dormitories and it seemed as good an occupation as any.

"Will you be able to sleep tonight?" Eden asked curiously. "I can't imagine it."

"No, but I thought I would at least sound like I'm a well-behaved person."

Eden smirked.

Near the fire, James and Sirius were talking earnestly about something that Lily couldn't hear. James wasn't breaking his promise to Dumbledore, was he? The head girl was desperate to know, and could only think of one excuse to go over there.

"Er... I'm gonna go talk to Sirius," she said to Eden. Her friend went rigid.

"I wish you wouldn't," she said in an uncharacteristically stony tone.

"I thought you and Sirius were friends!" accused Lily suspiciously. She watched Eden, who, for once, looked away.

"I don't know where you got that idea." Her attempts at indifference were terrible.

"It might have been the time you said 'Sirius is my friend.'"

"Black is a bastard," Eden said, distracted "I'm going up to see Lexi. Don't be too long." And she left.

With mood swings, Lexi, Eden, sleep, and broken promises on her mind, Lily crossed the room as inconspicuously as possible. But before she was in earshot of the two present Marauders, they noticed her.

"Red," said James simply.

"Lily," acknowledged Sirius, with a little more warmth.

"Potter, (and don't call me Red)... Sirius," Lily responded, nodding. "Um... Sirius? Do you know what's the matter with Eden?" Sirius's expression changed from a purely neutral look, to a completely unreadable but neutral nevertheless one.

"Um... no... she's... ya, I don't know. Bad mood, or something..."

Lily nodded. "Okay. Whatcha guys talking about?" She hoped her tone was casual. She was pretty sure it wasn't.

James raised an eyebrow, and looked away into the fire. Sirius looked a little bewildered, but said: "Tonight, what else? James was just telling me about what happened with him..."

The Head Boy's head snapped around to Lily and he opened his mouth to say something, but she was already stalking up to the dormitories, ginger hair flying. Sirius was left even deeper in a pool of puzzlement.

"What's with her?"

James remembered something from earlier. "She's anti-shoe," he muttered, more to himself than to Sirius. Padfoot was bewildered. "Never mind," James added, and he too pulled himself to his feet and walked slowly up to his dormitory. Sirius followed, confused.

OoOoOoOoO

_For the Shwankiest reviewers on the planet:_

_Tasz: _one sarcastic pessimist to the other! Okay, I'm not a total pessimist, but I am at heart, and I'm SO sarcastic! I love the Lily/James banter. There's less in this chapter, but there's much more in chapters to come! (seriously: lots and lots- even once they start to stop to hate each other. If anything, that'll provoke more...)

_Alexis:_ Thank-you so much for reviewing! Intense is good... I hope

_James-Padfoot_: Power to the glares! Woot! Lol. Thanks for droppin' me one! Cheers!

RhiannonCat: Yay! You keep reading, which seriously rox my sox off. Thanks so much! Love your reviews, and sorry it took so long last time, and this time... 

_Mkiara:_ thanks! Yes, I have read HBP. I read it in 8 hours. _Very _interesting I would say. Not my favorite of the books so far, but they can't _all_ be "Prisoner of Azkaban," can they? So what do you think of the Half-Blood prince himself? Pretty crazy... JKR is awesome, aint she? Thanks for reviewing!

_A Million Ways to Be Cruel_: okay. You're penname alone should make you the coolest person on the planet. Lol. No seriously. That's an awesome penname. I'm like, in love with it. Thanks for reviewing! (sorry if I weird you out :-P)

_N/C (_which, by the way, stands for "Note from the cook") Okay that took me WAY too long to get up. Sorry. But I have reasons! 1, HBP; 2, busy social life; 3, sports; 4, vacation; 5, got sick. 6, this chap _was_ 49 pages long at one point, but I chopped it to 27. Most of the other 22 pages go into chapter 6.

I'm not sure if I like this chapter or not. It's not my favorite, lets just say. Don't think that means I don't want reviews. Seriously guys. When I got my reviews for the last chapter, I was so pumped, that I sat down and wrote ten pages of this, which had to be rewritten upon the release of HBP anyway... but still. Seriously. Review. I'll love you forever. This chapter is somewhat tedious... and there weren't enough of the Marauders. Next chapter has a guarantee for more of those four. I love 'em. Oh, and lots more sarcastic banter, which was slightly lacking in this. Sorry for the ramble. Review?

_Next time_: detective work, reliving, repercussions, MORE OF THE MARAUDERS, new professors, back-story, assorted affairs, and the crazy subconscious...

Cheers,

Jewels

p.s. I only read this through once, so any mistakes or incongruities are my fault. But I really wanted to post!


	6. All Those Little Things

_Note from the cook:_ now that didn't take me too long, did it? Thanks to reviewers. You guys pwn. Lol. This chap got redone about six gazillion trillion shillion times. I just couldn't pull it off for the longest time. Hope I did this time.

_Recipe origins: _all of it comes from J.K. Rowling, but she permits lowlives like myself to expand.

_Recap of last time: _everyone talks.

_One Last Note from the Cook:_ title has changed since the blurb in my profile, as have some other things. Sorry, guys. This is really, really long. I didn't even realize it until I was proof reading! Eek. Review anyway.

**Chapter 6- All Those Little Things**

"_The only winner of the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky" –_Solomon Short

(What does that have to do with the chapter? Absolutely nothing. I just love it!)

All in all, no one slept that night.

James tried.

He failed.

He didn't have any clothes to change into, so he lay in his four-poster in his school slacks and white undershirt for a few hours. But he couldn't sleep. Sirius and the only other seventh year male present, Paul Montreal, discussed the night's events pensively for several hours, but James didn't hear a word of it. He felt outside it all.

And he was exhausted.

For a while, he lay in bed thinking, with only the buzz of Sirius and Paul faintly in the background. He concentrated on the evening's events, even though he didn't want to. All he wanted was to be able to sleep.

People always said "war is hell." James generated: "thinking is hell."

Every once in a while, students from other dorms would stick their heads in and say things like: "McGonagall wanted me to check the dorms and see that everyone was in bed," or else: "So-and-so just came from the Hospital wing! Thought you'd like to know…" Around four o'clock, even Mr. Korcesh- the man from the Ministry of Magic, who was aboard the train- dropped in to make sure that they were alright. James ignored them all.

But the distraction did serve some purpose, because shortly after Mr. Korcesh's exit, Sirius and Paul had run out of discussion topics, and James was able to doze for about an hour.

By five o'clock in the morning, he was brought to awareness by the silence in the room, and every chance of even dozing was gone.

"Padfoot," he muttered finally.

"Mhm?" returned the fully alert voice of Sirius.

"Want to play chess?"

"Do we have a set?"

"Gideon promised he'd leave one under one of the beds last year, remember?"

"Oh ya."

There were the sounds of Sirius shuffling about, trying to find the chess set that Hogwarts-graduate of last year, Gideon Prewett, had promised to leave. "Found it," he announced a moment later, emerging from under an as-of-yet unclaimed bed.

"I play winner," declared Paul non-chalantly.

Sirius pulled apart the curtains of James's bed, and set the board up there. There was a note on the top of the board.

_"To the Marauders, and any seventh year Gryffindor men who they see fit to allow the use of this most righteous chess set, that Sirius stole from us about six million times, and we therefore decided to bequeath on him and James and Remus and Peter. Enjoy it. Use it. If there are any cool fifth year- next year to be sixth year- guys, then you can leave it for them. If not, don't bother. Lions for the cup! Good luck running a Quidditch team without the most awe-inspiring talent of Fabian's and my chasering, James. Cheers, Gideon Prewett _and_**Fabian Prewett**_** _(who would like to point out that "chasering" isn't a word)._**_"_

The head boy imagined reading the message and laughing at it under different circumstances. But even his favorite ex-upper-classman, the Prewett twins, failed to amuse him at the moment. He just wanted a distraction for the next two hours. Sirius and Paul read the note, smiled weekly, and Sirius pocketed it, probably hoping that he would appreciate it better at another time.

James sat up, and the game commenced. Paul watched dully from the side. They knew the castle wouldn't begin to awake fully for another two hours, and it was destined to be a very long two hours.

_OoOoOoOoO_

"But, Madame Pomfrey! Look at that! The room is practically calm…"

"Calm?" shrieked Madame Pomfrey, glaring at James; she tried to tower over him, but couldn't. He was quite tall. "Calm? That is not _calm_, Mr. Potter. That is _chaotic_. That is _insane!_"

"But, Madame Pomfrey," pressed James, who now stood before her at the door to the infirmary, "its Remus. It's Moony! It's a Marauder!"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything…"

"Well, see Sirius here and I are the _other two_ Marauders and Peter…"

"I know that! Now shoo! Absolutely not! No! No! No! Shoo!"

James stepped out of the game momentarily to discuss tactic with Sirius. "Try the guilt trip card," the latter whispered.

"Madame Pomfrey! You've _got_ to let us in! His mother wrote us and asked us to make sure he was alright! What can we say if we can't even see him for _five_ minutes?"

Madame Pomfrey sighed. After a thirty-second internal battle, she sighed again and said: "You have five minutes to talk to him. After that, you're out of my hair until I release Mr. Lupin. Understood?"

"Of course!" chorused James and Sirius (who stood a step back). The unfortunate Madame Pomfrey gave them a warning glance, before stepping aside and permitting the two seventh years to enter.

"Mrs. Lupin didn't really write, did she?" Sirius whispered.

James shook his head.

His eyes scanned the room for a moment, before they fell on a bed near the corner, where a familiar mop of brown hair was just visible. He pointed it out to Sirius, who nodded and led the way towards the person who was undoubtedly Remus Lupin.

Remus looked up in surprise at the appearance of his two friends.

"Little early for you, isn't it? I mean, I expected the two of you to get your asses down here the second you woke up and all, but I didn't expect that to be until around two or three in the afternoon…"

"Us?" asked Sirius with mock curiosity; "but we're such early risers… such morning people!"

"I can tell," replied Remus wryly; "it's seven o'clock… impressive!"

"We haven't slept all night," James admitted sagely.

"Ya, we were really worried about Peter," agreed Sirius, sighing.

Remus almost grinned. He, along with the others, liked the idea of making light of serious things. It was much easier to talk about serious things when they were pretending not to.

"So… any news?"

"Mhm. Wanderers beat the Tornadoes two days ago. Was a brilliant match from what I hear."

"Shut up and tell me, Padfoot."

"I'm supposed to shut up _and_ tell you? Now that would be an accomplishment."

Remus rolled his eyes and looked hopefully at James. "Sorry. I got nothing," said the last Marauder, shaking his head. "No one'll tell us anything."

"Having survived a death eater attack and six years at this damn school, we have yet to prove our mental capacity," Sirius remarked sarcastically.

The other two rolled their eyes in agreement.

"Seen Wormtail?" Sirius asked presently; he looked around the room in the hope of finding the fourth Marauder.

"He's still out cold," Remus informed them. "Madame Pomfrey gave him something last night to make sure he was okay, but she hasn't had time to do whatever it takes to 'wake him up' yet."

"Tell him there's a feast in the Great Hall," said Sirius wisely; "works every time."

The others grinned. "I've been thinking…" Remus then began slowly.

_'You and everybody else,'_ thought James.

"Do you think there were any casualties?"

Sirius shook his head; James remained stoically unbiased. "You and I were down on the platform longest of the students, I think," the former said, and James suspected he'd given his share of thought to the matter; "and the whole time before we came back to the castle, did you see any killing curses?"

Remus shook his head. "No, that's why I was wondering. We should ask Eden though; she was down there as long as we were."

"You can ask her when you get out," snapped Sirius rebelliously; "but she's still giving me shit about… the thing last year."

Remus looked confused for a moment, before comprehension finally dawned. "Really?" he asked. James observed, even if Sirius didn't, a faint color arise in their friend Moony's face- and it wasn't out of anger. He decided to change the subject, before Sirius _did_ notice, or before Remus said something stupid.

"You're not looking well," he lied, more because it was the first thing that popped into his head than anything else. "Full moon coming?" (He muttered this more quietly): "or is it just the effects of last night?"

Moony thought for a moment. "It's the second, right? Must just be last night, then. Did y'hear? Some second year prat hit me with a spell. Fifty death eaters couldn't, but an idiotic twelve year old could. I had three arms most of the night, and that stuff-" Remus pointed nauseously to the potion on his bedside table- "tastes like bottle hell with vinegar."

Sirius took a whiff of the potion. "Smells like it too," he remarked casually.

"So what about you James?" Remus continued, forcing the fragile bottle out of Sirius's hands; "what happened to you last night? I didn't see you down on the platform at all… or were you lucky enough to get into the castle quickly."

"I didn't run if that's what you mean," James said, though he wasn't entirely sure if this was true. He wasn't entirely sure what was true about last night. His memory was hazy. Perhaps that was due to lack of sleep. All he could think of was lots of trees. It had been a terrible night. "I sort of got into some trouble with some other older students… trust me, I had my share of death eaters…"

No lack of sleep could take that memory away from him…

But before anything else could be said or done, Madame Pomfrey rediscovered their presence and told James and Sirius off for having staid seven whole minutes. She then shooed them mercilessly, and they had no choice but to give a final, piteously look to Remus, wave goodbye, and exit the chaotic and insane infirmary.

For the next hour or so, neither James nor Sirius had any idea what to do with themselves. Breakfast never began until eight o'clock at Hogwarts, and having visited Remus, besides the events of the night before, breakfast was the only thing left to think about.

They wandered the corridors aimlessly, seeing where their feet would take them, but after ending up twice in the Kitchens, decided to call it quits and go back up to the Common Room. It was empty when they got there, and being seven-thirty, it was somewhat surprising. Yet it wasn't disappointing, because neither Marauder felt like seeing people other than themselves, with a few possible exceptions.

Eden Dearborn appeared after about fifteen minutes, glanced at the two, gave them a quick "G'morning," and left. James glared at Sirius.

"You could apologize or something to her," he suggested bitterly.

"Why should I?" demanded Sirius. "It had absolutely no effect on her. She just likes being mad at me."

James thought this might be true, but was too annoyed with being ignored by one of his only female friends that he deemed not to tell Sirius he was right. Besides- he reasoned- Sirius might've just deserved to be ignored by someone. Remus and he had been awfully forgiving as it was. Not to mention Snape…

"Are you still mad at me, Prongs?" Sirius asked quietly, taking James by surprise.

"No," was the simple and mostly truthful answer.

"Thanks."

"Mhm."

"Dunno what I'd do if you were. Probably go hang out with first years and try to teach them chess or something."

"Or hole up in the Shrieking Shack?"

"Mhm. Or jam my head in a pickle jar."

"Well Moony and I've both forgiven you, but you can jam your head in a pickle jar anyway, if you want… it'd be somewhat funny."

Sirius grinned. James did too. He ceased to, however, when Lily Evans and Lexi Shaw emerged from the girls' dormitories. Lily cast them withering looks, and Lexi sort of half-saluted them confusedly.

"She really does hate you, doesn't she?" Sirius said thoughtfully, once they'd disappeared through the portrait hole. He wasn't referring to Lexi.

James wasn't in a good mood when they went down to breakfast, twenty minutes later.

The entrance hall looked completely different from how it had the night before. It was lit for one thing, and though still decidedly gloomy, all-round much brighter. It was also empty, except for Sirius and James, but voices could be heard from the adjacent Great Hall. Curious, the two stole inside and saw that they were- as was frequently the case- late.

Professor McGonagall stood in the front of the Hall, even in front of the staff table, with a scroll of parchment in hand, and a serious expression on her face. Next to her, was a small wooden stool, atop which, a boy of about eleven sat with a much-too-large wizard's hat on his head.

After a moment, the hat- yes, the hat- opened a mouth-type rip and declared "Ravenclaw!"

The boy removed the hat, looking clammy, but highly relieved, and hurried over to the table where all the Ravenclaws ate breakfast.

"Zabini, Dana!" called Professor McGonagall, and as a small, pale girl's head touched the rim of the hat, it proclaimed "Slytherin!"

The Slytherin table cheered; James and Sirius hissed. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the hat and stool to put them both away. The two Marauders, who had still been standing awkwardly in the back of the hall, slid into seats at the Gryffindor table.

Rachel Brossle, the seventh year whom Sirius had slid in next to, scooted farther away, causing Sirius to roll his eyes and pretend to ignore her. "Jeez Padfoot," murmured James as he served himself bacon which he suddenly had no appetite for; "you seem to have all the good-looking seventh year girls mad at you."

"Potter," snapped Lily Evans, coming up behind the two Marauders; "McGonagall wants to see the Heads when we're done with breakfast."

For a few moments, James wondered why McGonagall wanted to see him (and was about to exclaim: "I didn't do it!"), before it hit him that McGonagall might want more information on the story of the night before. He hoped this wasn't the case, because as of yet, he'd done his best not to think of anything that happened in the forest, and whenever he did, his head hurt.

Lily stalked away.

Sirius looked victorious as he poked at his scrambled eggs with a fork.

James feigned indifference.

Lily glared all the walk back up the table and sat down again next to Eden and across from Lexi. Neither was eating. That was surprising in some ways, because Lexi always ate. She ate very slowly, but ate nevertheless. Except for right now, when she wasn't eating.

"What was that?" Eden asked, pondering her sausage link.

"Potter's a bastard," declared Lily, making a brave attempt at her Pumpkin Juice.

"This sounds vaguely familiar," Lexi remarked.

"He _is_," insisted Lily quietly and venomously. "Just an ego-tripping, traitorous, lying, dishonest, cruel bastard."

"_And_ he has dark hair," threw in Eden.

Lily didn't appreciate the sarcasm, but didn't say so. The last thing she wanted right now was to cause a rift between herself and _another_ person. She served herself a blueberry muffin, which she nibbled at heroically. That was as far as she got with the muffin, but it was further than her friends had gone with any of their breakfasts.

She was furious with Potter. Why? Oh right, the thing with the telling McGonagall about the thing last night. What thing last night? Oh right, the thing with all the death eaters…

It'd been a long night…

"I wanna see Alice," Eden sighed.

"So we've heard…" said Lexi, eying her pumpkin juice with mild interest- "all morning… and all last night too…"

Lily didn't really listen to Lexi and Eden talk after that. Instead, she watched the staff table. Dumbledore sat there, but he was not talking with the other teachers like he usually did. He ate very little very quietly.

"Did she, Lily?"

"Huh? Wha?"

"Did McGonagall say when classes would start again?" Eden repeated herself.

"Oh… um… Lily thought back to the speech Professor McGonagall had given before the sorting; "no… she just said 'until further notice.'"

Lexi and Eden descended into gloominess, Lily into worry. If classes started, it would be the first sign of the return of normality to Hogwarts. If classes started, it would guarantee a few more months of Hogwarts' security. Lily wasn't ready to quit Hogwarts yet, and she knew it.

The Great Hall was noisier than usual, but all the conversation was worried or else boastful. A sixth year, Thompson, sat nearby telling a pretty blonde girl how he'd single-handedly brought half the infirmary back to consciousness. Fourth year students nearby were speculating on the health of a friend. Two newly sorted first years were muttering about Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost resident of Gryffindor tower. Potter and Black were in avid conversation. Lily wondered if James was divulging more of the information that Dumbledore had requested they keep to themselves. She was suddenly very angry.

Lily wondered if she should tell Eden and Lexi about it. She decided against it. Just because Potter was traitorous enough to tell, didn't mean she was. She was above that. And anyway, she was in no position to tell Eden or Lexi about anything from the night before. Trying to remember details hurt, though the basics remained intact in her head. She supposed she'd have to think about it more when she'd slept more.

But Lily was angry nevertheless.

Potter had that unusual gift to invoke more emotion in Lily Evans than any other person- including Elijah Trent… and _he was her boyfriend!_ Of course, the emotion was of an entirely different variety. With Potter, it was almost always anger or loathing or sudden energy, and with Elijah it was… well, Lily wasn't sure what it was. It was something. And it wasn't loathing.

Nonetheless, Lily was unwilling to think about Potter _or_ Elijah at the moment, and she forced herself to occupy her thoughts otherwise. She was so tired. It was surprisingly easy not to think about anything, she was so tired.

Too tired to eat really.

None of the food on the table looked appetizing, though in the previous few hours she'd been dying to get her hands on some of it. She was also distinctly disgruntled with more or less everything and everyone.

Eden and Lexi were bantering.

Potter was a traitorous liar.

Elijah wasn't here.

Dumbledore was too cryptic.

McGonagall wouldn't tell them anything.

Alice was unavailable.

Madame Pomfrey wouldn't let them visit her.

Her head hurt when she remembered.

And everyone in the Hall found the inexplicable urge to talk really, really loudly.

What was the matter with everyone?

It was like they were shouting: their unnecessary words pounding in her head.

Or maybe it was just that Lily hadn't slept in twenty-four hours, and the night before last she'd slept very poorly. All the stress of the last two days fell upon her shoulders in one merciless instant, and Lily dropped her unused fork onto her plate with a clatter. She hid her shut eyes in one hand, resting that elbow on the table and trying to will it all away.

She would kill to sleep for just a couple of hours.

"Miss Evans?"

It was Professor McGonagall.

_'Damn her.'_

"Yes, Professor?" said Lily, with her best effort at composure and awareness.

"Are you finished with your breakfast yet? If you remember, I asked to have a word…"

"Yeah, I'm done." Lily sighed and stood up from the table. She gave a "well what can you do?" look to Eden and Lexi, who returned it with sympathetic ones, and followed Professor McGonagall to the opposite end of the Gryffindor table, where Sirius and James were eating. Officially, anyway. They weren't really eating. They were talking. Their appetites must have vanished as well.

"Mr. Potter?" said McGonagall, in exactly the same tone she'd said "Miss Evans."

James looked up and over his shoulder and made the connection to McGonagall and what she wanted in an instant.

"I gotta go, I guess, Padfoot," he shrugged to Sirius, standing.

"See ya," his friend replied, stirring his cold porridge.

James and Lily followed McGonagall out the hall, exhaustion written all over them, along with irritability. The deputy headmistress turned right the moment they'd come into the Entrance Hall and led the two into a door that James had explored once, and found rather boring, and that Lily had never entered.

It led to a long, rather narrow corridor, the distance of which the two head students and the transfiguration teacher walked, before turning right again. The corridor had now become even narrower, but the end was imminent. There was a wooden door at the end, and the three entered through it a moment later.

The room they came into was square and not exceptionally large. There was a portrait on the wall of a woman in a purple dress, whom both students recognized as going by the name of Violet. Violet was a friend of the Fat Lady of the Gryffindor Common Room.

In the corner of the room were the small stool and the Sorting hat that McGonagall had had a little while earlier, and James could only assume that this was the room off the staff table, previously unexplored by him. He wondered how he could've missed it last time he'd been through that door off the entrance hall.

There were several chairs in the room, and Professor McGonagall indicated for James and Lily to sit themselves in two of them. They complied, with a distinct feeling of déjà vu from the night before.

"Now," said McGonagall; "Professor Dumbledore has asked me to make a… request… of you two. I realize you're probably very exhausted…" It didn't take a genius to figure that one… "but if you could donate at least some of your time today to helping the staff and the Ministry of Magic, we would all be most indebted to you…"

James and Lily exchanged glances. All her anger with him had temporarily been forgotten. In fact, she wasn't even thinking of the fact that she was pretty sure James had told the whole story to Sirius. The looks exchanged were entirely innocent and curious.

The door that entered into the Great Hall opened, and three men stepped in. They were all completely different.

One was the tall, noble looking Dumbledore. Next came fat, grubby Professor Slughorn. The third was completely unfamiliar to Lily. He was a tall, well-built man in his fifties. He had rugged auburn hair, streaked slightly with grey, and a hard, battle-scarred face. His eyes were blue and piercing, and he wore long red and brown cloaks. He was positively terrifying in every sense of the word.

The Headmaster spoke first. "James, Lily…" he nodded to them both, and they returned the gesture; "this is Alastar Moody."

He indicated to the scar-faced man.

James stood and shook Moody's gnarled hand. "Ya, we've met," he said, a bit of a grin on his face. This only served to make Lily feel more awkward.

"Potter," acknowledged Moody. His voice was as hard and gruff as his face and body.

Lily stood and shook his hand next. "Pleasure to meet you," she said diplomatically.

Moody bowed politely. "Pleasure's mine," he barked. Lily wasn't entirely sure if this was how he always talked, or if he just didn't like her, but she sincerely hoped it was the former. For one thing, Alastar Moody just didn't look like the type of person to cross. For another thing, he had a badge on his robes that was slightly crooked, but clearly said "Auror."

"Won't you sit down, Alastar?" invited Dumbledore, pushing a chair towards the Auror. Moody turned and looked over his shoulder carefully at the chair for a moment before sitting down. "Horace?" continued Dumbledore. He pushed a chair towards Professor Slughorn, who also took a seat.

Dumbledore next provided a chair for Professor McGonagall, but deemed to stand himself. He stood in front of Lily and James, and Lily felt rather like she was a witness in court. Slughorn, Moody, and McGonagall watched both Head students carefully.

Dumbledore's eyes were brighter, and less grim than the night before, though they held no where near their usual level of mirth. He observed Lily and James over his half moon spectacles. Lily was holding her breadth.

"I must apologize on behalf of the Ministry of Magic and of the school beforehand, Lily and James, for any inconvenience this might cause you today. Apparently, neither you, nor most of the school, slept much last night."

"We didn't," acknowledged James non-chalantly.

Dumbledore almost smiled. Almost. "In that case, I'm sorry," he said. "But I- we- have a task for you today. It is a request, because we would understand if you do not wish to relive last night. However, having considered your story, the Ministry has sent Mr. Moody and some of its other officials here for Hogwarts' protection. But there's something in your story that you told us that needs investigation."

Lily had a hunch where this is going.

"What we need," said Dumbledore, now bending down rather close, and watching them very carefully indeed, "is to borrow a bit of your memories…"

_**OoOoOoOoO**_

"Professor, sir… what is that?"

"It's a pensieve…"

"I didn't ask _you_, Red. I asked Professor Dumbledore…"

"Don't call me 'Red,' Potter."

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, _please!_"

Professor McGonagall watched the bickering Head Boy and Girl with supercilious eyes, though they might have betrayed some amusement as well. They were now in Dumbledore's office. It was the same party as before: Dumbledore, Alastar Moody, Slughorn, McGonagall, and the Head Boy and Girl, who hadn't gone three minutes without starting up some spat or another.

Professor Dumbledore's eyes smiled at Lily and James, though his facial expression was neutral. Alastar Moody was standing in the backdrop of the office, near the window, whispering and muttering to Professor Slughorn. McGonagall stood to the left of Dumbledore's desk, and Lily and James had resumed their seats across from it. Dumbledore himself, who had just placed a large stone basin on the surface of the desk, now sat down across from the Heads in the large chair behind it.

Mr. Moody and Professor Slughorn now took a step forward, and everyone watched Lily and James intensely.

"So," said Lily, catching on; "you want to take our memories of last night in forest, and put them in your pensieve so that you can examine them and see where exactly the Death Eaters were in the forest…"

"Precisely."

James was still looking at the stone basin, called the pensieve. "I've seen one of those," he remarked. "My dad has one. Rather rare, aren't they?"

Dumbledore nodded. "And you'll allow us to take the memory?"

Lily couldn't imagine refusing, and she didn't see any reason to either. It wasn't as though it would be especially painful for her to relive it.

Well, maybe it did hurt her head a little bit…

"Why don't you want Redival here too?" James asked shrewdly.

"I spoke to Miss Shelley this morning," replied McGonagall, though James had been addressing Dumbledore. "She was unconscious when she was brought into the forest, and her memories afterwards are scattered and indistinct. We were hoping you two were more collected."

Lily searched her mind. Had she been collected the night before? She didn't really remember. She still couldn't remember a whole lot, actually, and the pain in her head increased by the moment. But she didn't feel like she was exactly in a position to tell this to Dumbledore, so she nodded.

"Alright, do what you can."

Dumbledore stood and pointed his wand at Lily's head. "You don't mind going first, Lily?"

"No…"

"Thank-you. If you would just try to think of last night. From the beginning, I mean. Right before you entered the forest… I need you to think of where you started out…"

Lily squirmed nervously in her chair; all eyes were on her. Her head hurt. Dumbledore paused for a moment and seemed to whisper something under his breadth. Then, he drew away his wand, but stemming from the end was a long, silvery substance. The Headmaster pointed the wand tip at the pensieve, and the silvery strands of what must have been memory shot into the basin.

Lily and James both got to their feet and stared in the pensieve. There was a liquid like material that glistened in the faint sunlight. They all crowded around the desk, looking into the liquid carefully. Then, there seemed to be some sort of movement beneath the surface, and Lily could make out trees.

"Would anyone care for a closer look?" asked Dumbledore, watching the shocked expressions on James's and Lily's faces.

Everyone glanced up at him.

"How?" James asked curiously.

"All you need do is touch the liquid… who wants to go first?"

No one volunteered for a moment. "I'll go," barked Mr. Moody. He took a step closer, then plunged his arm into the basin. A moment later, he was either jumping, or being pulled into it fully. He disappeared entirely, and the surface calmed.

A pause, then: "I'll go next," volunteered Lily.

Dumbledore nodded. Her pale hand reached out to the shining surface, and a moment later, she felt the sensation of plunging into a pool of chilly water. But she was entirely dry, and the sensation left quickly, to be replaced by one of falling.

Then, she found herself standing on two feet. Next to her was Moody the auror, and he was looking about the scene curiously. James appeared a moment later, then McGonagall, then Slughorn, and finally Dumbledore. Everyone gazed about.

They were standing on the bank of the lake. It was disturbed and boats were exploding exactly as it had been. The dark mark was visible in the illuminated night sky overhead and screams filled the air. Across the lake, spells being shot every which way were clearly visible. Then, Lily got her expected shock.

James was crawling up the grassy slope, dripping wet. He stood about a foot in front of the real James, and Lily saw the real one's jaw drop in amused surprise. Her stomach gave a funny jolt, probably due to the sight of twice as many James Potters.

"And I though the world was bad enough with only one of you," she whispered, so that only the Head Boy could hear. He stepped on her foot.

As Memory-James slipped off his soaking school sweater and loosened his tie, Lily saw herself appear on the bank. It was nothing like looking in a mirror, because this Lily didn't look like her reflection. She knew it was more how other people perceived her, and was distinctly uncomfortable.

"Ah, you know what they say," Real-James whispered into her ear; "two Lily's are better than one. Four times the bitchiness of the regular female."

Lily stepped on his foot.

She knew it hurt more.

She was wearing three-inch heels.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, and Lily caught Professor Slughorn's eye. He was smirking at her. She turned away quickly and watched the familiar scene unfold.

The soaking James was rolling his eyes, which were partly covered by soaking hair. "C'mon Peter," he said as he began to approach Peter Pettigrew, who had now climbed onto the bank. But there was something odd about the memory Peter.

Namely, he wasn't wet.

"Nice job, Red," Real-James muttered, apparently having noticed too; "even your memory is messed up…"

Lily ignored this and thought hard. That was how she remembered it, come to think of it. She remembered Peter being dry. She didn't remember him looking wet at all. But that didn't make sense. She turned to the Headmaster. "Sir…?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "Shhh. Wait."

Lily watched the scene unfold.

Miraculously Dry-Peter was standing now, and the Death eater's hexes had begun to rain down. "We should… shit!" cursed memory-James (real-James squirmed uncomfortably). The two memory-Marauders stared in surprise, and memory-Lily grabbed both their sleeves and pulled them towards the forest.

But something wasn't right about memory-Lily either. Her tie was blue…

Seeing it now, Lily clearly remembered that she'd worn a blue tie earlier, but that didn't make sense either. She didn't own any blue ties. She was a Gryffindor! Her colors were red and gold!

"Quick," Dumbledore was now saying, quietly.

The real group of people followed at a quick pace behind the running Lily, James, and Peter. When the memory-Peter tripped, and the other two paused to help him, the visitors paused and observed the forest.

Now it was obvious something was up. The sky overhead didn't appear to have any stars visible. Trees were disappearing and reappearing at random, and some didn't reappear at all. Bushes sprouted up all over the place, then disappeared after a moment. The whole forest seemed to be constantly changing.

"What's happening?" gaped Professor McGonagall.

Memory-James, Lily, and Peter had started running again. The party followed at a jog.

"Red," said real-James suddenly, watching their memory selves hurry on. His voice was of one in absolute shock.

"Mhm?"

"You're wearing shoes!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm wearing shoes… and don't call me 'Red!'"

"No, you're memory self is! You weren't wearing shoes last night… remember?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Um… yah I was…"

James gave her a confused look. "No you weren't! they got lost on the platform, remember? That's how your feet got hurt and bleeding!"

"Look, they've stopped!" panted Professor Slughorn. Indeed, the figures in the pensieve had stopped a short distance ahead.

Mr. Moody, Lily, and James, along with Professors Dumbledore, Slughorn, and McGonagall all walked quickly up to the spot where the memory figures had stopped and sat down. Trees in the background were still appearing and disappearing at random, still growing or shrinking every now and then, but the changes were less drastic suddenly. The clearing where they had stopped and sat down was varying in size every once in a while, however. The dirt was changing color under their feat, and the log that Lily was sitting on changed to a moss-covered rock several times.

Memory-Lily was massaging a shoe-covered foot, and talking with James about something that no one was really listening too.

Real-James turned to Dumbledore. "This isn't right," he said. "I remember it differently. We ran for almost five minutes before we stopped… I know it! And Lily didn't have any shoes on, because she left them on the platform. Her feet were bleeding. That's why she was rubbing her foot. See…"

He pointed to the memory that was unfurling around them.

James was giving Lily the death eater's wand, which she pointed at her foot. The shoe glowed white for a moment, before returning to normal.

"I never gave her any wand!" James insisted. "She had her own! But something was wrong with her feet… I don't remember everything… I just know for some reason I had to do the spell. I was the one who made her cuts scab over. _That_ I remember."

"No!" interrupted Lily; "no, this is right. I don't remember it all, but I definitely healed my own feet. I remember it! Only… I can't remember anything being the matter with them. I suppose they were sore… but I used a spell on them… and James gave me a death eater's wand because I'd lost mine in the lake!"

"How could I give you a death eater's wand?" James demanded; "I never had one to give!"

"Yes you did, you found…"

"Please!"

Dumbledore held up his hand and signed for the two to stop. "Please," he repeated; "Lily, would you kindly take off your shoes?"

Lily looked taken aback. "Take of my shoes?"

"Yes."

Reluctantly, Lily pulled off one of her school shoes. For some reason that she couldn't remember, it hurt terribly to do so. She then pulled off one sock. Her foot was covered in scrapes and cuts, all scabbed over.

"B-b-but how? I don't remember… I can't remember cutting my feet at all! How?"

"Because you stepped on things when we ran through the forest!"

"But I…"

"Look," barked Moody suddenly; "they're moving on."

The memory-seventh-years were indeed moving forward, but they were walking. "Should we follow, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked slowly.

Dumbledore shook his head and sighed. "No, no. There's no need. Though the incorrect memory may be interesting, it isn't useful past this point. Here…"

And suddenly, with a jolt in her stomach and a blur of color in her eyes, Lily found that she and the others were back in Dumbledore's office. She sat in a chair and put her sock and shoes back on.

"Professor, I don't understand how I got those cuts on my feet. And I don't understand how…" she drew one of two wands from her pocket… "I got this, if Potter didn't give it to me, like he says he didn't."

She held in her hand the death eater's wand that she clearly remembered James giving to her.

"And the trees and such," pressed James; "why were they moving like that? Do you remember it that way?"

Lily thought hard, ignoring the ache in her head. "Truth be told, I don't remember any of the trees. It's all a blur. And the clearing… I… I don't remember what I sat on. I think it was a log but… I remember the mossy rock too… and the dirt color… I can't picture any of it my head…" She looked earnestly up at the adults, hoping for an answer.

"What about you, James?" Slughorn asked. "What do you remember? Picture a scene very clearly in your head… when… when Mr. Pettiflew…"

"Pettigrew," corrected McGonagall and James quietly.

"Yes, that. When Mr. Pettirew climbed out of the lake, was he wet?"

"Well logically…"

"Don't think logically," interrupted Moody; "just try and remember. What did he look like when he got out of the lake?"

James shut his eyes, picturing it. He could see Lily, climbing out of the water- soaked as she was supposed to be. So was Peter… "No, wait! His hair was wet! His clothes weren't! But… that doesn't make sense? Only, I remember his hair dripping, and his clothes were dry. Why didn't I think of that at the time? Why…? That doesn't even make sense! Professor, what's going on?"

"Those memories have been tampered with," growled Moody after a brief silence.

Lily and James stared. "Tampered with," they repeated.

"Quite," agreed Dumbledore; "It was a poor cover up, but a thorough job. There is no telling where exactly the clearing where the death eaters were is. We cannot know how long it took you to get there. We only have the details of what you told us last night."

"So what we remember, didn't necessarily happen?"

"Mmm, though there are some things that can be deduced. Your shoes, Lily…"

Dumbledore held out a hand, and Lily gave him one of her school shoes. "New?"

"Yes…"

"They've been scuffed up."

Lily looked at them carefully. "I don't know how…"

Dumbledore turned the shoe over. "There's no sign of having been through a forest environment."

Lily stared.

"And your feet," the headmaster continued; "have cuts on them. I believe James is right on that count. I do not think you were wearing shoes when you went into the forest last night."

James smirked victoriously for a moment, before Moody carried on the deductions.

"But she has a death eater's wand," he said in his growl of a voice; "how do you remember getting it?" he spoke to Lily.

"James gave it to me. He said he picked it up off a death eater he'd injured or something. I lost mine in the lake…"

"Yet I don't remember that," interjected James.

"Yet _I_ have the wand," Lily pointed out, handing the wand to Moody as if for evidence.

There was a brief moment of thoughtful silence, before Professor McGonagall spoke. "Will we be entering Mr. Potter's memories?"

"No, I don't think so," sighed Dumbledore. He sat down at his desk. "There is no need. It too will only be filled with distortions and mistaken memories, if I'm correct… and judging that wand, I am."

"But Professor," Lily pressed; "isn't there some way you could… well… fix our heads? I mean, couldn't you take off the memory charm?"

"That is assuming that it is a memory charm that was used on you."

"B-b-but what else could it be?"

"It doesn't bare trademark signs of a memory charm. For example, memories have been replaced. I am not as familiar in this area as others…"

"You're saying dark magic, then?" asked James, in disbelief. "A dark curse… just to make us forget whether or not Re… Evans… was wearing shoes, or what color the dirt was?"

"Not exactly," said Dumbledore slowly; "I expect the purpose of the magic was to make you forget the way to the clearing into the Forbidden Forest."

"Do you think whoever did it changed what we heard… what the death eaters said?" Lily wondered anxiously.

"No," said Dumbledore slowly; "I doubt it. Whoever preformed the magic was not entirely clever, but not entirely foolish either. Memories are complex things to change, and the signs that yours had been tampered with were obvious when examined through a pensieve. Details were mistaken- such as your shoes, or the exact placement of trees. However, I do not doubt that were you to relate your stories now with only the important aspects included, they would be very much the same. If you were asked to relive the story, the enemy would want it to fit. And, he or she would want it to fit with the story that you told myself and Professor McGonagall last night."

"That begs the question," said Slughorn, "who would change their memories?"

"Well it had to be fairly late last night," Lily replied thoughtfully; "at least, it had to have been done after we came to speak to you."

"Who knew they'd been in the forest and spoken to you and Minerva?" Mr. Moody growled.

"Everyone who was at the meeting last night," Professor McGonagall replied thoughtfully; "that would be the whole staff, yourself, one of the men from the Ministry- Briscoe or whatever is name is- and the two aurors that the other Ministry worker brought with him… Keira Brighton and Frederick Crosby…"

"I'll vouch for Bright," said Moody immediately.

"So will I," said James, as if the idea of doubting Keira Brighton was unthinkable.

"The staff is trustworthy?" Slughorn asked of Dumbledore. "Well, I know I am. And Minerva of course… and Filius, but…"

"I'll vouch for the staff," said Dumbledore simply, and that settled the matter.

There was a pause. Lily wished she knew more wizards, so that she could vouch for someone. As it was, all the people she would have vouched for were already spoken for, or else present, and that would've been awkward… like someone had suggested they were untrustworthy…

And who would go anywhere near suggesting that Dumbledore was untrustworthy? Exactly.

"But Professor," said James, a little desperately; "there's got to be some way _you_ can find out what really happened… I mean, and I bet Evans agrees with me- I don't wanna walk around with the wrong idea any longer than I have to… and, well…" he flushed slightly, but continued: "_you're_ Dumbledore… can't you do…?"

"I don't know, James," replied Dumbledore thoughtfully; "I have many theories on what could be done to recover your memories, but I've never tested them on a curse like yours. I cannot predict how any of it would turn out. It's possible that permanent damage would be done to your memories."

"I don't care," said Lily, a little more fiercely than she intended; "er… that is, it seems we already have damage to our memories, and I don't care if that's the risk you have to take. For the greater good and all that…"

She nearly laughed at herself, and she was almost sure she saw the ends of Moody's mouth twitch. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"No," said Dumbledore finally. "No. You two may go, now. Again, I ask you not to tell any of this to your friends or anyone."

Lily and James nodded, and Lily couldn't help but glare at the Head Boy for a moment, before they turned and left the office. He had promised _again_! And without the slightest flinch or signs of guilt!

Once outside the office and down the griffin staircase, Lily fought the urge to start telling him off. It wasn't her place, she told herself restlessly. Too late.

"Potter," she said, as he began to walk down the corridor.

He turned and looked curiously at her.

"Do you have any sort of conscience?"

Something unfamiliar passed through James's hazel eyes. It was gone a moment later, however, and Lily convinced herself that she'd imagined anything. After all, this was Potter she was talking about. He turned all the way and walked back toward her. Before she knew what was happening, they were standing a foot a part, their noses about an inch apart.

He was towering over her.

This was an entirely new experience for Lily.

"Don't talk to me, Red," he said coldly.

"Don't call me 'Red,'" she whispered.

He took a step back, then withdrew down the corridor. Lily stood still for a moment, glaring after him. He was halfway to the end of the hall when he turned once more. "And for what very little it may be worth to you, Red," he said loudly, "I didn't tell Sirius what happened. I lied… to him."

And he turned and was gone.

Lily stood for thirty seconds more with the desperate hope of breathing and sorting herself out. After the thirty seconds, she'd come to a conclusion. James Potter was a very confusing person.

And a total bastard.

_**OoOoOoOoO**_

"Oh _please,_ Madame Pomfrey? We haven't seen her in so long! And her mother wrote this morning asking if she was okay and if we would check up on her!"

"Funny, Miss Evans, but her mother seems to be the six thousandth mother to write and ask if her child was alright, and for her child's friends to check up on her. No, I'm afraid not."

Lily, Lexi, and Eden sighed. Lily stepped back to let someone else try. Eden was usually good at convincing people, so she took the next go. "Oh but c'mon, Madame Pomfrey! She's our best friend, and I feel responsible for her being in there! We wont be in the way, we promise. Just in and out… five minutes, that's all! Please?"

"No!"

And with that, the exhausted Madame Pomfrey hurried in the other direction, to apply medicine to an ailing third year. Lexi sighed. "How are we supposed to survive without Alice?" she asked dramatically and very glumly.

"We're not," said Eden, biting her lip with that "Merlin-I-have-an-Idea-and-You're-Gonna-Hate-it-Let's-Go" look on her face.

Very cautiously, she waited until Madame Pomfrey had her back turned, before slipping through the doors and signaling for Lily and Lexi to follow. They did, then they edged around the perimeter of the room (around the foot of the beds) watching Madame Pomfrey carefully to make sure she didn't turn around.

Once she did, and the three girls had to duck behind a set of bed curtains that the nurse herself had set up.

Fate was apparently on their side, because behind the curtain… was Alice.

"Alice!"

"Erm… guys!"

Eden grinned and rushed to the head of the bed. "Alyce, hon. How goes it? You don't look so bad… not enough for a closed ward, anyway…"

"You should've seen me last night after Madame Pomfrey gave me the potion… eep. I would've died if anyone had seen me… though it's very vain of me to think so."

"No, it's human," Lily corrected encouragingly.

"That's what she said," said Lexi poignantly.

"Thanks for the commentary on humanity, Lexicon," said Eden, rolling her eyes. "You feel okay now, though?" she added to Alice.

"Mmm… Madame Pomfrey won't let me leave for some reason though…"

"Wonder why…"

"Well, she said it's because I can't walk at the moment."

"Wow! Madame Pomfrey _is_ uptight."

"What classes have I missed?"

"None," sighed Lexi; "we haven't started classes… current rumors are saying we wont until next week, but officially it's 'until further notice' which probably means next week anyway."

"Is… well, is the castle secure?"

"Define 'secure,'" Lily challenged, almost smiling.

"Has it been taken over by death eaters?"

"Yes," sighed Eden.

"So… erm… what have you been doing all day?"

This was Alice's way of saying: "why didn't you come to see me earlier." All three of her friends launched on different explanations as to why they hadn't been able to come earlier. It was, after all, around three in the afternoon.

"I had to see Dumbledore," explained Lily.

"What about?" Alice wanted to know. Eden and Lexi looked at her curiously too.

"Various things I've forgotten," shrugged Lily, but she was being entirely honest. The other three cocked eyebrows at her. "It's complicated. Confidential Head Girl stuff- nothing very interesting, though I know you're all dying to know…" she grinned hopefully.

Alice seemed satisfied- or at least she didn't want to get Lily in trouble by forcing her to divulge top-secret Head Girl stuff- but both Lexi and Eden looked pleading. "Awww, now you have to tell us, Red," whined Eden.

Lily started. "What did you call me?"

"Erm… Red?"

"Why?"

"Dunno… it just suits you… with the ginger hair and all that. Just like Lexi is Lexicon and Alice is Alyce…"

"That's incredibly unfair to Alice," Lexi pointed out.

"Shush, Alexandria. You don't mind, Re… er… Lily… do you?"

"N-n-no it's fine."

Lexi, Eden, and Alice gave her "looks."

"It's not nice to stare," Lily said dismissively.

"But we can't help it," sighed Alice, "You're just too…"

"Funny-looking?" volunteered Eden.

"Pretty," corrected Alice.

"Same thing, really."

"_Girls_!"

It was Madame Pomfrey. All three seventh year girls standing turned and faced the hospital maid, eyes wide. She had torn the curtains open and was staring at the three viciously, in a face not dissimilar to an angry cat eying a rat who'd bit it. Eden spoke first; Eden _always_ spoke first. "We got lost and somehow… mysteriously… ended up in Alice's curtained stall-esque ward thing…" awkward pause… "Ma'am."

Madame Pomfrey looked dangerous.

"I won't tell if you don't…" offered Lily.

The unfortunate and exhausted Madame Pomfrey sighed. Lily felt instantly sorry for the poor witch. "Do you need any help?" she asked sincerely. "You look busy…"

And that pretty much killed all chances of lackadaisical unwinding that Lily, Eden, and Lexi may have had plans for that evening. The spent the remainder of the day in the hospital wing, helping Madame Pomfrey distribute medicine or check on patients. Since they seemed far more competent than the other two volunteers who had stuck around from the night before, they had far more work to do.

They were occupied until six o'clock in the evening, when a quite forgiving Madame Pomfrey finally sent Eden, Lexi, and Lily to dinner. They were tired and hot, but Lily's conscience was clear. Eden and Lexi were just disgruntled.

"Thanks for volunteering us, Lilith," grumbled Eden, using Lily's most loathed nickname.

"Shut up. It was noble. WWAD?"

"Don't go pulling 'what would Alice do?' shit on me, Lilith," said Eden with mock indignity; "I'm too tired. I want dinner. And I don't want to go to the hospital wing tomorrow, even if Alice is dying."

"Good thing she's not dying…" observed Lexi.

"Quite," agreed Eden.

And they went down to dinner, because they were very, very hungry.

Working for the past three hours in the hospital wing had served some other purpose for Lily though. It had delayed worry on the fact that her memory had been tampered with, and that was definitely a cause for worry. With Eden's and Lexi's constant bantering in the background, and the ceaseless need to give someone their medicine, or tell someone to go back to sleep, the discouraging thoughts were pushed back and suppressed rather well.

But as she walked to dinner, she phased out of Lexi's and Eden's voices, and was forced to come to terms with the most frightening fact. She really couldn't trust anyone or anything at the moment. She couldn't even trust herself to remember the truth. How much of what she was sure to be fact were in fact lies? Lily didn't know this, but she did know that trying to recount certain things about the night before caused her head to twinge in pain, and she was pretty sure that this was no coincidence.

What Lily really wanted, as she entered the Great Hall with Eden and Lexi, was to speak with Potter again. She just wanted someone else to shed light on it, and he was the only one who happened to share her problem. She wanted to consult with him.

Even if he was a bastard.

_**OoOoOoOoO**_

Alice, now able to walk, quitted the infirmary the next day, much to everyone's glee. She was the second Gryffindor to be released from the hospital wing, and indeed, when she walked into the common room (only slightly limping) everyone present (which included Lily and Eden) applauded loudly. Alice smiled gratefully and quickly made her way over to her best friends.

"How are you? Madame Pomfrey was lamenting your absence," she said cheerfully.

"We wanted to go visit her again today, but we forgot the way to the infirmary," lied Eden regretfully.

"I can see it's devastated you."

"Mhm."

"Lexi's down there now, actually."

"_Working?"_

"Lexi? Definitely not. No, she's visiting the boyfriend."

"Ah. Frank."

Alice looked bewildered. "What?" she asked, referring to the tone in Eden's voice, which she did not like. "You don't like Frank?"

"Oh no. It's not that…" she trailed off inconclusively.

"Well I talked to him a lot yesterday and today… he was in the bed just next to mine… and I think he's perfectly nice and quite deserving of Lexi." She sent an almost-but-not-quite-because-Alice-never-glared glare towards Eden.

"I dunno," shrugged Eden. "It's nothing against him… he's nice and intelligent and all that but…" she shrugged again. "Lexi'll have a job breaking it up, I gotta say."

"What?" Alice demanded, eyes wide.

"Do _you_ see those two getting married?" Eden asked, curiously. Alice looked thoughtful for a moment, but couldn't reply. "Exactly," continued Eden; "and if they don't get married, they either die before they get the opportunity to, or else they get married. And even _then_ they could break up…" (she added the last bit almost resentfully.) "So now assuming they don't get married, and hoping they don't die, it's a pretty safe bet that they're gonna break up at some point. And Frank isn't the type to dump a girl."

"And Lexi is the type to dump a guy?" Lily asked shrewdly.

Eden sighed. "Like I said… she'll have a job doing it."

And fortunately, that was that.

When Lily, Lexi, and Eden had returned from dinner the night before, they'd entered their dormitories to see that their trunks had finally been brought from the Hogwarts Express. All missing and/or destroyed school clothes were to be reported to Professor McGonagall as soon as possible, so that they could be replaced and/or mended. Lexi and Lily were both missing their outer robes, but also both had an extra set in their trunks, and didn't report it. Eden wasn't missing anything, because she'd been out of uniform at the time of the attack, and the return of her trunk meant nothing good for her, because it meant she would have to wear her uniform from then on.

When had come back from the Hospital Wing, Alice reported that she had miraculously managed to maintain every article of clothing, but she was one of the few that had. The list on the announcement board in Gryffindor Tower was so long that Professor McGonagall had to return several times a day to take it, and put a new blank one.

But the first two days after the attack passed with an unusual and unexpected lack of incident for most of the Hogwarts population. They knew that aurors were stationed in and around the school, but as of yet had not caught more than an aerial view of them from the windows (with a few exceptions). They were, for the most part, "asked" not to wander the corridors, or leave their common rooms or dormitories unless to go to meals, or if they had an explicit purpose. So for a while, they were left in suspense. That is to say, they were left in boredom.

For the Head Boy and Girl, the case was otherwise.

Lily spent most of her free time- and after the hectic first day, there had been a lot of it- trying to remember things, and trying to strain her memory. But she seemed physically incapable of forcing herself to remember that she had not been wearing shoes when she ran through the forest, or that Peter had been anything but dry when he emerged from the lake.

By Wednesday, she had to make herself stop recollecting (or trying to anyway), because Madame Pomfrey was becoming reluctant to give her headache potions. She'd spent a good deal of time drawing in an attempt to take her mind of the matters, but ended up just drawing lots of trees. Fortunately, it was on Wednesday that times began to change yet again.

Lexi was eating breakfast with Frank on Wednesday morning, and Alice with Leander ("the World's Ugliest Man-Whore" to quote Eden- "the boyfriend" to quote Alice), which left Lily only with an energetic Eden to deal with as they made their way down to breakfast. Eden was snapping her fingers and hitting her palms as they walked, speculating on whether classes really would continue this year, and whether the teachers would assign more, less, or the usual amount of homework as a result of the attack.

Lily expressed her view that she didn't think the attack would have any effect on the homework load as they entered the Great Hall, and as they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Eden argued that if they were more stressed, the teachers would either not want to correct as much homework, or else they would want to vent some of the stress by inflicting pain on the students. Lily reluctantly saw some logic in this (especially the latter point) as they served themselves breakfast.

And then the mail came.

"Mmm, the newspaper!" said Eden with interest, as her owl (which had fortunately been rescued from the train) dropped the rolled up newspaper (along with a letter) on her plate, next to the solitary blueberry muffin.

"Maybe there'll be a notice today," Lily said sardonically, looking over Eden's shoulder as the other unfurled the newspaper.

For the past two days, Lily and Eden had scanned the newspapers for even the slightest mention of Hogwarts, and yet for the last two days, there had inexplicably been none. It didn't seem like Dumbledore to try and hush it up, but it might've been the Ministry's doing. Whatever the case was, as Lily saw the lead article, she supposed either the Ministry had relented, or the _Morning Prophet_ had broken some rule. The headline read:

**Hogwarts Threatened by Dark Lord?**

Lily and Eden exchanged looks, before reading the article.

_Inside Ministry sources report that on Sunday, September First, followers of activist known as The Dark Lord- called "Death Eaters"- took action against the village of Hogsmeade (Scotland). Hogsmeade, one of the few all-magical towns left in Britain, is located less than a mile away from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and until recently rumors were the only word that several students at Hogwarts were injured during the attack. _

The Daily Prophet_ now has confirmation of some of these rumors. A _Prophet_ reporter spoke to Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, yesterday._

"_There was an attack on the village of Hogsmeade involving Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters," Dumbledore explains, "but I am relieved to report that there were no resulting deaths. Some students have sustained injuries, but most have been attended to in the school's Infirmary and a very small number were sent to Saint Mungo's Hospital of Magical Injuries and Maladies."_

_But why was the public left in the dark so long concerning the attack?_

"_The families of those more seriously injured were communicated with, but temporary silence was kept on the matter for the safety of everyone," says Dumbledore. "Now that we are sure that the school and the village are at least temporarily secure, we can safely release the information."_

_No word from the Ministry yet has come to confirm or deny Dumbledore's statement, but Minister of Magic, Julian Turnus, has announced that he will hold a press conference later today. See the _Afternoon Prophet_ edition for complete transcript._

"Now it'll come," muttered Eden wisely, once she had finished reading. She folded up the paper and offered it lamely to Lily, who took it and reread the article.

"What'll come?" she asked, as she read Dumbledore's quote once more.

"You know," said Eden, taking her blueberry muffin in hand and biting it anxiously; "all hell is gonna break loose. Parents will be frantic; Hogwarts and Hogsmeade will be mobbed by reporters… Dumbledore and the Ministry were smart to keep this as hushed as possible until they'd gotten all the aurors here, and they were somewhat sure the grounds were safe…"

Lily nodded. "I expect there are a dozen new protective spells on the castle too. Hope it's enough."

Eden nodded and opened the letter that had arrived for her, and Lily scanned the newspaper. Three new names in the obituary and a fourth page mention of an attack in Southampton. Lily sighed. The wizarding world was growing complacent with the idea of Voldemort; at least, _the Daily Prophet_ was.

She returned to the first page and reread the article once more.

"Activist!" she exclaimed suddenly. Eden looked over at her curiously, and a few people raised eyebrows. Lily shoved the newspaper back into her friend's hands and continued more quietly. "Look at that!" she said, pointing to the term she had not noticed in the first read through. "'Activist known as the Dark Lord!' _Activist!_ He's a murderer! And look at this, look at this: the death eaters 'took action against' Hogsmeade. What the hell is this? They attacked it! Hence the injured students!"

Lily glared rebelliously away from the newspaper, and her eyes landed on the staff table. Professor Dumbledore was missing. How odd…

"Bull shit," muttered Eden, tossing the newspaper away angrily. "'_took action against'_ my ass. Why do we put up with shit like that? Who wrote…? Whose Tina Bester?"

Lily took the paper up. "Bester, you said? Um… a reporter: always thought she was a bit radical… 'guess I was right." She glared at the name in print.

"Look, she wrote another one," Eden snapped venomously, having noticed the name again on the front page. Lily averted her eyes to the second headline, which was slightly smaller, though as noticeable, as the first.

"**Death Threats to the Minister of Magic?"**

"She likes the question marks, I guess," Eden muttered, rolling her eyes. "Not much of a writer, though." Lily ignored this and read on.

"_Death threats aren't exactly uncommon in the Ministry of Magic in these times, and they're rarely taken seriously. However, today, _Prophet associate,_ Tina Bester reports that a series of assassination threats have been made at the Ministry, in particular to Minister Julian Turnus, that have several departments in an uproar. _

"_Everyone in our department is working very hard to make sure that the threats are not realized," says an anonymous worker in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "First there was just a letter that arrived towards the beginning of last month, saying that Minister Turnus's days were numbered, then one more every Sunday since, saying similar things… in not so many words. This last one was particularly frightening, and the Minister called in for some consultation."_

_This source was unable to divulge any further information, and Ms. Bester says that neither the Minister's undersecretary, nor the Minister himself would agree to comment on the rumors. One worker from his office would only offer: "the Minister is unavailable right now," and on further questioning let slip that: "he is not in the building right now." Ministry insiders report that some sort of meeting took place late Sunday to discuss… cont. pg. 7_

"The Minister's receiving death threats eh?"Eden asked skeptically. "By an innocent political activist like Voldemort? What a shock…"

Lily read the last bit of the interview on page seven, before folding the paper up. "Can I keep this?" she asked of Eden, who nodded- still irritable- and consumed the rest of her muffin and pumpkin juice.

Several other students about the Great Hall had received a newspaper too, and were sharing it with their friends. Lily had a different idea. Having shared it with a friend, there was one person who would appreciate something in this newspaper for what it was. And he definitely wasn't a friend.

More like an archenemy.

"Hey um… I gotta go do something… er… head meeting or some rubbish like that," Lily lied to Eden, who was serving herself some more pumpkin juice.

"Mmm… okay, you want me to come and protect you?"

"No, s'fine."

"Okay. See ya later."

Lily climbed off the bench and hurried to the end of the table, where James, Sirius, and now released Remus were sitting. Peter was apparently still in the hospital wing.

"Hi, Lily," said Remus cheerfully, when he saw her. "Pull up some bench?" he offered, scooting closer towards James to make room.

"Sorry, no," she replied, completely void of regret. "Um, Potter, Dumbledore wants to see us in the Entrance Hall."

"What? Why?" asked James, glancing up at the staff table, and noticing that the headmaster was, indeed, missing.

"No idea. Probably just a Head meeting or something."

James reluctantly swung his legs over the bench and followed Lily out of the Great Hall. Once clear of sight, Lily turned to James and pulled out the newspaper.

"Hey! Where's Dumbledore?" demanded the Head Boy, annoyed.

"He's not coming, now shut up and listen," Lily ordered, unfurling the newspaper and thrusting it under James's nose. "Have you read this?" she asked urgently.

"Ya, some bitch who doesn't know how to spell 'murderer' tries to stretch what little information she has into a full-fledge story. What about it?"

Lily thought James summed it up well, but didn't say so. "No, not that article. "_This_ one!" she pointed to the story under it. James briefly read it, then looked up at the Head Girl again.

"Point?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't you _see?"_

"Ya. I see you. And I see a newspaper. And I'm still looking for you point…"

The unfortunate girl sighed. "I have to spell everything out for you, don't I? Look! There've been death threats every Sunday since the middle of last month."

"Bloody hell, Red!"

"Don't call me Red! But you see it now, don't you?"

"Yes! You've finally learned to read!"

Lily's glee at Potter having understood her vanished. "Oh shut up, you thick-sculled narcissist."

"Narcissist? Where does that come into play?"

"Shush. Listen. Think now, okay? What happened _this_ Sunday, Potter? Can you remember that far back?" she used a tone as if speaking to an inattentive three-year-old.

"Yeah, yeah. The death eater attack. So what?"

"Alright, and the Minister received particularly scary death threats, _this _Sunday!"

"Riiight… so are you saying they're related?"

"No. Not necessarily. Look, look, look." Lily pointed the last line on the front-page part of the story. "'_Ministry insiders report that some sort of meeting took place late Sunday to discuss…'"_ she continued to page seven: "'_What should be done about these threats, but as to who was present and what was decided, _the Prophet_ was unable to discover.'_ Don't you see?" Lily looked earnestly up at James, hoping she wouldn't have to spell it out for him.

"A meeting," he muttered, and Lily could practically see the little wheels moving in his head. "A meeting. With the Minister of Magic," he continued. "And who would the Minister call to such a meeting?" It was a rhetorical question.

"Exactly," said Lily, smirking for some reason she could not determine, except that maybe she was pleased with her own cleverness.

"He'd call Dumbledore," James said, looking up at Lily with a similar self-satisfied smirk.

"Which is why Dumbledore wasn't at Hogwarts on Sunday night," Lily continued.

"And he said we'd find out why soon enough."

"And he looked mad."

"He must've known or guessed that word would get out."

"And he must take the threats seriously, or he wouldn't leave Hogwarts on the first day back."

James and Lily stared at eachother with blazing looks on their faces, before remembering that he was James Potter and she was Lily Evans, and that they were staring at eachother with something other than complete and utter loathing. They looked away quickly.

"S-s-so," stammered James, slightly disconcerted, as he looked back down at the newspaper; "it's sort of an odd coincidence, don't you think, that two Voldemort jobs should happen simultaneously?"

This hadn't occurred to Lily. It _was_ an odd coincidence. Either that, or it wasn't a coincidence at all, which was obviously what James was suggesting. "Do you think one was a distraction for the other?"

"Well the letters have been coming for weeks," shrugged James; "if the letters were a distraction for the attack at Hogsmeade, then it was planned out well. It took the fourth letter for a meeting to be called."

"Maybe the threats weren't all that serious until this week."

"Maybe they were made by someone who could advise him to call a meeting."

Lily gaped. "Someone in the Ministry of Magic? Now, Potter, we're wandering into the realm of 'far-fetched.'"

"Are we? Red, you're so naïve. There are probably loads of Death Eaters in the Ministry. Even in high up places!"

"I know that, and don't call me 'Red.' All I'm saying, is that we're getting into the area of secret government conspiracies, and that is never safe."

"Well all _I'm_ saying is that it's possible. And logical."

"Or, maybe it someone who knows government systems well. Death threats aren't _that_ usual, despite whatever Tina Bester says, but they're not so uncommon that the second the Minister of Magic gets one by someone like Voldemort, he'll need to call in all the great wizards in the country for consultation. To be Minister of Magic, you have to have some kind of ego. Maybe the author of the threats just was clever enough to determine that a fourth or fifth, particularly scary letter would be the straw that broke the camel's back."

She gave James a look that dared him to challenge her.

He didn't have time however, for at that moment, students began to exit the Great Hall and make their way wearily back to their common rooms. Before Lily had time to slip in with the crowd and make herself inconspicuous, so that neither of their friends spotted her with Potter, Sirius and Remus came up to where they stood.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Remus asked, giving the Heads skeptical looks.

"He left two minutes ago," said James, glaring at Lily; "But dear ol' Red insisted on hollering at me for who knows what… so I didn't get to finish my breakfast."

Lily looked properly indignant. "Right, Potter. You conveniently forgot to mention the fact that you jinxed my shoes to tap dance throughout the whole time Dumbledore was here!"

"I just thought you needed some help," retorted James; "you look like a terrible dancer."

"Okay break it up you two," sighed Sirius, rolling his eyes. "I'll be glad when this year is over and you two can get as far away from eachother and never have to see eachother again."

"Don't worry, Lily. You'll still get to see me," joked Remus. Lily slung her arm around his shoulder. "Ah yes, the moral Marauder."

"Moral Marauder? That's an oxymoron if I ever heard one," said Sirius smirking.

"C'mon guys," said James, who had been staring hard at Lily. "Let's go check on Peter. Sorry, Red. You'll have to tear yourself away from me. Don't cry too much, 'kay?"

"Oh, I'll try," Lily replied sarcastically. The Marauders left up the marble staircase, and Lily made her way against the grain of students to find Eden in the hall. But before she got in, she ran into her friend anyway.

"There you are," said Eden, pulling Lily out of the fray. She handed the redhead two blueberry muffins. "You didn't finish your breakfast, and you so damn skinny I had to get you some calories quick."

Lily rolled her eyes and took the muffins. "Thank you, E, Queen of Anorexia."

"I'm not anorexic. I'm just naturally hot."

Lily rolled her eyes but smirked anyway, and the two girls walked towards the marble staircase. "Hope Lexi's in the common room. I wanted to ask her a question about the homework McGonagall assigned over the summer. You don't happen to know… oh my gosh! Marlene!"

Eden stopped walking with the crowd and hurried towards the gigantic oak doors that were the entrance and exit of the castle. Lily followed her confusedly, until she saw a familiar figure standing before the doors.

She was a woman in her mid twenties, and was tall with a hard, muscular- though very thin, sort of figure much like Eden's. Her reddish hair was curly and fell to her shoulders, and her eyes were deep blue, another feature identical to Eden. Her skin was a slightly warmer color though, and her nose was smaller and rounder. In fact, all her other facial features seemed softer than Eden's, except for her grin which played on her lips and bore the trade mark mischief that the blonde's did.

Marlene Dearborn was Eden's half-sister.

"E!" said Marlene, a very pretty woman, when she saw Eden. "Glad I caught you and didn't have to go hunting for the Gryffindor common room. I've probably forgotten where it is, and there isn't a chance in hell I would guess the password."

"Cheese and Rice, Marlene! Whatcha doing here?" Eden- commonly nicknamed 'E'- asked curiously, hugging her sister around the shoulders briefly, before looking her over. Eden was about half an inch taller than Marlene, and her black Hogwarts robes offered an interesting contrast with the other's warm honey colored ones.

"Came to see you," said Marlene, beaming proudly at Eden. "Read the newspaper article and got worried sick," her expression changed to match; "Jack was very sweet; he came over and made me breakfast while I cried my eyes out over you, and then he helped me recuperate so I could apparate over to Hogsmeade and make sure you were alright."

"How's Jack?" Eden asked, smiling. "It's been, what, four days, since I've seen him?"

"Three hon, he saw you to the platform with me, remember?"

Eden grinned. "Is that the only reason you came all the way to Hogwarts?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "To remind me how great your boyfriend is?"

"No," replied Marlene slyly (Lily was standing awkwardly a few paces behind Eden); "I came to show you something."

She pulled out a long, slim left hand and showed it to her sister, who gasped. "He proposed! Oh my… oh gosh. Wow. Jeez. I'm gone three days and Jack McKinnon proposes to my insane sister. Wow!"

Marlene grinned, then her face softened. "You sure you're okay though? Today isn't about me. It's about you. You didn't get hurt? You didn't have to spend any time in the Hospital Wing?"

"Ya, I had to spend three hours there the other day because Lily volunteered us to help Madame Pomfrey. But I didn't have to spend 30 seconds there due to injury. Honest!"

Marlene's eyes fell on Lily. "Hi, Lily," she said brightly, beckoning her stepsister's best friend over with warmth that was signature to Marlene. She gave her a quick hug around the shoulders (Marlene was very maternal) and then said: "You okay too? No injuries?"

"Nope," said Lily, a little proudly, though she had not forgotten about the mysterious scrapes on her feet. Then again, maybe they weren't all that mysterious. "I'm absolutely fine. Alice spent a little Hospital Wing time, but she's okay now."

"Good," said Marlene, with a bit of a relieved sigh. "Missed you this summer, Lily. The house wasn't quite the same without your visit. Doc was disappointed when he found out you weren't coming."

"Yes, Doc's so sweet that way," muttered Eden sarcastically, with a falsely cheerful tone in her voice.

"E," came Marlene's warning voice.

Eden rolled her eyes rebelliously but said nothing. Lily was very uncomfortable.

"S-so, Marlene… engaged, eh? Marlene McKinnon. That sounds right and nice."

"You're so sweet," said Marlene, resuming her beam.

"Can I see the ring?"

Marlene offered her hand out to show to Lily. It wasn't an enormous engagement ring, but it was very pretty. The band was gold, the rock sparkling diamond, and the set in which the diamond rested was silver.

"I love the silver set," sighed Marlene dreamily (Eden coughed slightly); "it just shows the ring off so much, don't you think?"

"It's beautiful," said Lily, honestly.

Marlene smiled brightly at the two, before changing the subject. "Where's Lexi?"

"With the boyfriend," was the simultaneous reply.

"Oooh. Lexi has a boyfriend, eh? That makes… number two for her, right? What's his name?"

"Frank Longbottom," answered Eden, making a face. Marlene looked thoughtful.

"Hmmm. Name's familiar. Related to Augusta Longbottom?"

"Why? You know her?" asked Eden.

"Wrote a story on her late husband's work, and interviewed her. Very grand isn't she? Quite proud of her 'heritage' and all that. Oh no," she added, catching a look in Lily's eye; "nothing like that. She's not one of those pureblood maniacs- the complete opposite really- but she _does_ like it to be known that her whole family can be traced back to 300 BC with witches and warlocks the whole lot of them."

"Oh those pureblood maniacs who follow that 'activist?'" Eden asked mockingly.

Marlene laughed. "You've seen the paper than?"

"Quite," said Lily, pulling Eden's rolled up newspaper from her pocket. "'Activist?' Understatement of the Century. But you work at the_ Prophet_, Marlene... what do you know about the story?"

"I've taken the last two weeks off, because apparently I haven't taken a day off in the five years I've worked there," said Marlene wryly. "And when I get to work on Monday, Tina is going to be a pain to deal with. She'll be SO proud of herself for getting two stories like that, though I expect the getting of one led to the getting of the other."

"She's not a very good writer, is she?" Eden said, annoyed.

"No, but she gets good scoops," sighed Marlene.

"How?" Eden wanted to know.

Marlene hesitated. "Anonymous sources," she finally said wryly; "which means she does more or less the business Mum was into, only she gets stories... not just money."

Eden's face hardened. "Lovely," she said in disgust.

Marlene nodded. "She's a dreadful woman, but of course, gorgeous, so she gets what she wants. And as what she wants is usually a story, some- not all, love, not all- men are more than willing to oblige."

"As is she, judging by the number of anonymous sources she lists in the two articles," Eden pointed out coldly.

"Don't judge, hon. She's also very... erm... clever at getting things out of people. Just by talking, I mean."

Eden rolled her eyes again. "I'll be glad when you're back at work and 'Tina Bester' who thinks of Voldemort as an 'activist' and hijacking a train full of children as 'taking action' is off the front page."

"As will we all," agreed Marlene; "They don't pay me very much for being on vacation, and with an impending wedding, I've got to start saving money." Eden looked at her stepsister proudly.

"Good," she said; "You won't be relying totally on Dad, then, for the wedding."

Marlene sighed. "Dangerous territory, E. Not here, not now. Okay?"

"'Course," said Eden, obligingly cheerful. "I don't want to talk about it here and now anyway." Marlene gave her a 'behave yourself' look, like one would expect to receive from a mother, and then forced her face into a pleased expression.

"Well, I've got to do some work for Dad. He asked me to drop by and see Dumbledore... so I should be going."

Eden's face fell slightly. "Alright then, gorgeous. See ya later." She hugged her sister, who hugged her back and told her quietly in her ear to: "Take care of herself" then stepped back and waited for Lily.

"Bye, then Marlene. I'll see you sometime in the future, I suppose."

"Of course," said Marlene, as if anything contrary was preposterous. "You'll be at the wedding, whether you like it or not. And E, you're maid of honor if I have to drag you up the isle to do it."

"More like _you're_ the bride, if I have to drag _you_ up the isle," retorted Eden, smirking. Marlene grinned, and with a final wave, sidestepped the girls and hurried towards and up the marble staircase.

Once she was gone, Eden turned to Lily and handed her the other blueberry muffin. "Eat that," she instructed. Lily sighed, but complied.

O!O!O!

The Head Girl had a lot to think about the next two days. Between wondering what exactly had occurred at Marlene and Eden's house over the summer (a couple of hints had been dropped that _something_ had happened), wondering about the assassination threats to the Minister of Magic (which went surprisingly unattended to at Hogwarts), and wondering how much James knew or guessed about the whole thing, she again spent most of those two days wondering. This seemed true of all her friends too.

After breakfast on Wednesday, all three of them had seemed exceptionally thoughtful. Lily guessed the reasons for all of them.

Eden was thoughtful about Marlene's visit- Lily thought- because the subject of her father had been brought up, and when mention of her father, especially in reference to her late mother, Eden always grew thoughtful. Therefore, said mention was avoided as much as possible. Lily always joined her friend for two weeks out of the summer, when Eden's father stayed at Marlene's home. She'd been on vacation with her parents during the time when she usually went, however, and thinking back, Lily supposed that was why Eden hadn't written to her all summer.

Lily thought that Lexi was probably thoughtful over her Frank-relationship. Lexi and Eden, for people so different (Eden a decided extrovert, Lexi a genius-mastermind-introvert), had amazingly similar logic, and Lily would be very much surprised if Lexi wasn't wondering things much like what Eden had said on the matter of the relationship. But while Eden voiced them (Eden voiced many things), Lexi did not.

Alice was a little harder to read, but at the beginning of every year, after a whole summer of separation from Leander (unless, of course, they happened to be broken up at the beginning of the year) she usually became extremely thoughtful, extremely happy, or extremely angry. This year seemed like it would be an extremely thoughtful year, which meant that there would probably be at least three break-ups and reunions before Christmas. Perhaps suspecting it would turn out badly was bad luck, but Lily thought it was pretty much inevitable anyway. It wasn't the healthiest of relationships.

Such was life.

Eden's stepsister was the first of the family members to arrive at Hogwarts after having read the newspaper article, but she certainly wasn't the last. About an hour after the girls' run-in with Marlene, a frantic woman came to the Gryffindor common room (accompanied by a somewhat irate Professor McGonagall), and nothing would stop her from speaking to her fourth year son. The unfortunate boy had to undergo a good deal of teasing from his friends once his mother had left.

Pretty soon, McGonagall just sent everyone downstairs to see if any of their family was there to see their children. No one from Lily's family came, of course, because none of them were witch or wizard. She was still debating with herself whether or not to tell her parents about what had happened.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans had a vague idea of Voldemort (though their impression of him was not far from Tina Bester's: an 'activist'), but they didn't quite have a grasp of the mass-murderer part. Lily wasn't exactly sure how she would break this to them, if she ever needed to. She supposed the only way that would really _need_ to find out was if _she_ was killed by Lord Voldemort, and if that should happen, she would be spared telling them anyway.

Nevertheless, as Lily meandered around the crowded entrance hall- full of parents and their children, the latter assuring the former that they were quite alright- she almost wished she had some family to come and see her. But that was the price that she had to pay, if she wanted to be in this world. None of her family could really share it. She could only be part in it, and part in the other, not fully a member of either, really.

Lily rolled her eyes at herself. She hated it when people felt sorry for themselves too much, and she was never one to wallow in self-pity. So instead of moping in a corner, wishing her parents were witch and wizard, she walked over to share Alice's family, who had shown up by the thousands.

Not only were Mr. and Mrs. Prewett present, but three of her cousins- Molly, Gideon, and Fabian (the latter two were chatting with Sirius Black), her aunt, Wanda, her ten year old brothers, Danny and Simon, and the family's back cat, Jinx. Mr. and Mrs. Prewett greeted her warmly but briefly, and returned to their daughter. Lily drifted to talk to Gideon and Fabian, with whom she was on fairly good terms, but quickly tired of the Quidditch-talk, and wandered away from the Prewett family.

She looked around for Lexi for a while before Frank Longbottom rushed up to her.

"Erm... Lily, have you seen Lexi anywhere?" he asked anxiously. Lily looked at him curiously.

"No... she came down here with the rest of us, but I don't know where she went. What do you need her for?"

"Oh, I wanted her to meet my mother. I sort of had them avoid eachother over the summer," he let out a nervous laugh; "and Mum wants to meet her, so I've gotta find her before Mum leaves. She's got to work this afternoon, and can't wait around long."

Lily shrugged. "Sorry, Frank. No idea where she is."

Frank sighed and went to question Alice.

Lily next encountered Eden. "So... um... no more family for you, eh?" Lily asked in a would-be casual tone.

"Nope," said Eden with nonchalance too perfect to be genuine. "Marlene's the only one who would come. I've got what? Her and Uncle Price, but he's in the States at the moment getting married, so I don't expect him." She smirked slightly here.

"And Doc," Lily pointed out forcefully.

Eden laughed here: mirthlessly, but sincerely. "Ya, and Doc. He might show up, but it'll probably be to see Dumbledore anyway."

Lily sighed. "He's your Dad, E," she said, knowing it was in vain. She usually avoided playing this role as peacemaker, but some things had to be said every once in a while, and Marlene was the only other person who ever said them, and she wasn't available.

"Tell _him_ that," Eden shrugged. "Have you seen Lexi anywhere?"

Lily couldn't bring herself to press the subject.

"No, I think she might be hiding from Frank..."

"Why?"

"He wants her to meet his mother."

"So?"

"So I guess she doesn't want to meet her."

Lily scanned the crowd to see if Frank had located the missing girl. Apparently he hadn't, but he was chatting to the Prewett family, and his mother was looking about impatiently for him. She was a very proud and imperious looking woman, and Lily was glad that _she_ wasn't Frank's girlfriend.

Lexi reappeared around the same time most of the parents began to disappear out the door. Most of them went down to Hogsmeade to apparate out, though a few had rented rooms in the town. Lily didn't see much point in this, because being in Hogsmeade wouldn't protect their children any more than they already were.

"Greetings," said Lexi cheerfully, when she came up behind Lily and Eden and startled them half to death.

"Welcome to Earth," replied Eden wryly. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Us? Oh, out and about..."

She sounded too cheerful to be Lexi. "In other words," demanded Eden, "you were hiding from Frank."

A faint color came into Lexi's usually pale face. "Erm... maybe. We were just wandering... you know."

"Wander down any secret passageways?" Lily asked, shaking her head.

"No... but we did hide out in the kitchens. Don't tell Frank," she added earnestly.

"What _should_ we tell him then?"

"I... er... dunno. Tell him we were visiting with Alice's family. They're easy enough to get caught up in."

"Actually, _Frank_ was visiting with my family," said a disgruntled Alice, approaching the other three and looking extremely reproachful. "His girlfriend ditched him, you see. Awfully mean of her, don't you think?"

Lexi sighed. "We're sorry," she said sincerely; "but what are we supposed to do? We don't want to meet Mrs. Longbottom. She's bound to hate us."

"Nobody hates you," Alice exhaled irritably, though it was obvious she was already beginning to forgive Lexi.

"Sure they do. Lot's of people hate us. Like all those ditzy sixth year girls: they loathe us... and it's rather inexplicable too."

"No it's not," said Eden grinning slyly.

"What do you mean?"

"It's obvious isn't it?" said Lily, knowing what Eden was thinking and exchanging "looks." "They're jealous."

"They're jealous of me because of Frank?" asked Lexi, incredulous.

Alice looked indignant.

"No," said Eden slowly. "Not Frank..."

Lexi raised an eyebrow. "You've lost us."

"All three of us," agreed Alice.

Eden and Lily grinned. "We'll tell you when you grow up."

That was decidedly the best way to handle the situation, because neither girl would've liked to hear what Lily and Eden were thinking.

_**OoOoOoOoO**_

On Saturday morning, a notice appeared on the bulletin board in the Gryffindor tower, which officially announced (the rumor had been going around for quite some time) that classes would begin on Monday morning- breakfast at eight. Lily was glad.

Any distraction was welcome.

The students who stood around Lily, who also were reading the notice, made false sounds of disappointment, but she thought it was pretty evident that they were pleased too. Sitting around in the common room all day wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and Lily was fairly certain that if she played on more game of chess, exploding snap, or gobstones in the next two months, her head would explode.

The Marauders came downstairs from the boys' dormitories and made their way towards the bulletin board, so Lily departed from it as quickly as possible. In her head, Lily rationalized that she simply wanted to go down to breakfast (Eden, Lexi, and Alice having already gone twenty minutes ago), but it was all lies.

She'd been avoiding Potter, whether she admitted it or not. When she did get so far as to admit to wanting to avoid him, she always said it was simply because he annoyed her. She never got any closer to the truth than that. If she had, she would've admitted that she didn't like how much contact they had already come in this year... how much _civil_ contact, that is.

Earlier in the entrance hall, it had been borderline friendly.

Friendly contact with James Potter?

If Lily had gotten so far as to admit _that_, she would've cringed.

She walked to breakfast, contemplating the mysterious of that Maniacal Bastard. In her mental monologues, Lily had taken to calling Potter the Maniacal Bastard, and she didn't know why, except that it sort of rolled off the tongue better than "the Egotistical-Self-Serving-Everyone-Look-At-Me-Please-Because-I'm-A-Spoiled-Brat-but-I-Don't-Care-Because-I'm-Also-A-Dumb-Jock Bastard." It made a little more sense, too. He was _somewhat_ maniacal, she supposed. About certain things... like... Quidditch. And good-looking girls.

Lily automatically made her way to the marble staircase. She'd done it so many times, she didn't even need to think about the trick steps on the stairwells above, nor the doors that pretended to be walls. The only thing she needed to worry about was Peeves the Poltergeist, and he hadn't bothered her yet this year.

She stepped onto the Great marble stair that led to the Entrance Hall (one of the few that didn't contain any trick steps), and at first glance thought that the Hall before her was empty. She was therefore surprised when she heard a clear voice from the opposite end.

"What are you doing here, Dad?"

Lily froze. It was Eden speaking. She was standing across the almost empty Entrance Hall near the doors to the Great Hall. Her profile was facing Lily, from where the Head Girl stood, surprised, on the steps. Neither Eden, nor the one whom she was addressing took any notice of Lily.

"I came to see you," said the visitor, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Some sort of explosion occurred inside Lily while she realized what had failed to register moments before. Standing a few paces before Eden, facing her, was a tall, handsome man. He was in his mid-forties, but didn't look it. His hair was thick and black, his skin a rich tanned color. On the lobe of his left ear, the only one visible to Lily (though she knew the other one was bare), was a silver stud earring. It was Caradoc Dearborn: Eden's father.

Lily nearly passed out.

Eden seemed to be having a different sort of reaction. She gave a hollow, mirthless laugh, like the one Lily had heard the other day, also in reference to Doc Dearborn. "Right Dad. You can go now. Dumbledore's office is the seventh floor tower... the great big griffin... that's why you're here... you and I both know that."

"Doc" as Dearborn Sr. was most commonly known, watched his daughter with cold blue eyes, identical to Eden's and Marlene's. "I know where Dumbledore's office is, E," he said sharply; "But I didn't come to see Dumbledore, did I?"

"'E,' Dad?" snapped Eden, ignoring the second half of her father's proclamation. "Wow, you're picking up my nicknames. It's taken... what?- maybe... fourteen years for you to figure that one. They always _did_ say you were fast learner. Where'd you pick it up?" she added, leaning in conspiratorially; "did Marlene let it slip? Or did you overhear Lily, perhaps?"

She leaned back and glared mutinously.

"It's good to see you too," replied Doc sarcastically. "And for your small information store... your _mother_ used to call you 'E'."

Eden's eyes flashed but she kept her face neutral. "What are you doing here, Dad?" she repeated finally. Lily wished she could disappear into the stair below her feet.

"I came to see you," Doc said again.

"Did you," sneered Eden. There was no question in her tone.

"Yes."

"How sweet. You must've gotten attached to your daughter-the _other_ daughter, I mean of course. I couldn't dream of comparing myself or categorizing myself with Marlene. But wait, I thought you hated the whole 'attachment' and 'strings' thing. That's probably the only reason I exist. Oh wait, I forgot. You married that one. How gentlemanly of you."

"You're going into dangerous territory," Doc said warningly.

"Wow. I'm scared."

"E... shut up."

"Would you like to hit me, Dad? Did you ever hit Mom? I know you never hit Marlene... what about Marlene's mom? No. Not her. Never her."

Eden took a step closer, hands on hips, as if taunting her father to smack her. He looked almost as if he wanted to. Lily almost wanted to, but that might've been a _slight_ giveaway to the fact that she was there. Doc calmed himself, looking remarkably like Eden in the fashion he did so. A quick breadth and a few blinks. He even brushed his hair slightly with his ring finger, just like his daughter.

"How did we get here?" he demanded, once calmed.

"I know how I got here. As for you... one can only speculate. I suspect you wanted a word with Dumbledore, and thought it might look good to pay a visit to your daughter. For PR, y'know?"

"Why does everything come back to your mother?"

"Dead people have a funny way of haunting the living."

Eden's expression was cold, and almost un-Eden-like. At least, it would appear so to most. Not to Lily. She'd spent too much time with Eden not to know what her friend was going through. Or, almost to know it. Did anyone _really_ know it?

"I heard about the Death Eaters and I came to visit you... make sure you were okay and everything," Doc said, obviously trying to get off the subject of his diseased wife. "But either way around, I lose, I guess. I don't visit: I'm an irresponsible Dad. I _do _come, and you shit me out about your mom. I can't win, can I?"

"You were out of the game some ten years ago, Dad. Irresponsible? Irresponsible doesn't _begin_ to cover it. But don't worry about me. I'm not bitter. I'm just happy with the two weeks we spent together this summer. That is to say, I'm happy they're over. I look fondly back at the last day, and that feeling of impending freedom." She smiled with sickeningly artificial sweetness. There was no attempt to fool her father.

"What did I do wrong?" Doc demanded, irately. "Where did I go wrong with you?"

Eden rolled her eyes. "Um... maybe it was the 'not raising' me part. Y'know?"

"E..."

"I'm not going to have this conversation with you, Dad. Okay? No. I don't want to. I don't want to talk about Mom, or you, or me, or any forced interaction we've had. No."

"Good, 'cos that's not why I came. I came to check up on you."

"Look at me, Dad. Alive and everything!"

Doc paused, as if unsure as to what he should do next. "Had a good summer? I mean, the last month, where I didn't see you much?"

"Ya, it was great," replied Eden sulkily.

"Any news on what happened exactly here at the school?"

"Ask Dumbledore... If you haven't already been to see him, that is."

"I'm trying to connect with you, E. Isn't that what you want?"

"You're missing the point. It's not connection I want with you; it's detachment. I don't want to talk to you."

Doc glared. "Fine. No. You know what, I'm not sure I want to be here either. Maybe I should go have an adult conversation with someone mature enough to handle it..."

"Someone like Mom was?" mocked Eden. "I heard she was known for being an excellent conversationalist."

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about. Sometimes I almost wish...why can't you just stop? Give me a break just once?"

Eden stopped. The fire in her eyes died. It burnt anew in her father's. Lily wasn't breathing. It was silent in the Entrance Hall.

Then, slowly and deliberately, Eden turned, and walked away into the noisy Great Hall. Doc stood still for about ten seconds. Lily breathed again. If he would just turn and walk out of there, he need never know she'd heard the conversation he'd had with his daughter. Eden need never know either.

Lily's heart leapt as Doc turned and began to walk towards the great doors that led to the grounds outside. Before he exited, however, he turned, and cast an eye about the enormous entrance hall. His eyes fell on a ginger head.

"Red?"

Lily felt she had three options: faint, run, or pretend to have gone temporarily insane.

On further consideration, she decided none of these would work too well.

"Doc," she said, by way of greeting.

"How long've you been there?" Doc asked, not angrily.

"Too long?" squeaked Lily, but he heard.

"Come down, then."

Very reluctant to do so, Lily descended the steps. Doc watched her carefully. When she was in decent talking distance, he spoke. "How've you been?"

"Terrible. Yourself?"

"Mostly the same."

"How's Eden been, lately?"

Lily hesitated. How to put this? "Not so good."

"No? I thought so. She wasn't so good over the summer either."

"Death Eaters ambushing the Hogwarts Express probably didn't help."

"Probably not."

Awkward pause. Lily hated it. She hated being awkward with Doc. They'd always gotten along so well. She got a long better with Doc than his own daughter did, but Lily knew why. If Doc was her father, she wouldn't get along with him either; but he wasn't her father, and she could appreciate him for being Caradoc Dearborn and not Eden's dad.

"Are you mad at me too, Red?" Doc asked finally.

"No," said Lily, without hesitation.

Doc grinned a roguish, familiar sort of grin. "Why not? Eden is."

"I might be too, if I were Eden," Lily replied truthfully. "But I'm not." She shrugged. "I'm not mad at you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Know when classes start?"

"They're saying Monday."

"Excited?"

"Mhm."

Doc pointed to the badge on her chest. "Head Girl, eh?"

"Mhm."

"I was Head Boy..." he looked proud for half a moment.

"You? I thought you were the bad boy in your day?"

"I know. I was. I thought Dippet- he was headmaster then- had lost it. Now I'm beginning to suspect Dumbledore suggested me to him."

"Well don't let that go to your head," Lily said, with a smile; "he's been known to pick some... questionable... Head Boys, himself..."

"Who are you stuck with?"

Hesitation, then- "James Potter."

"Really?" queried Doc, amused; "now I _know_ Dumbledore suggested me to Dippet. If I hadn't already been to see him today, I'd go confront him now..." After a brief laugh and a slightly longer silence, he continued more seriously. "You'll look out for Eden this year, wont you?"

Lily nodded. "I always do."

"I worry about her, whether she wants to admit it or not."

"I know."

"You might suggest she visit me over Christmas..."

"Or _you_ might suggest it."

Doc grinned. "I had a grandmother like you once."

"The one that got hit by the broomstick?"

"No, the other one."

"Ah."

"Keep an eye on her, eh?"

"Sure."

"Does she ever get lonely?"

"Only she wants to."

"Sometimes I wonder if she's got too much of her mom in her. She doesn't, does she? I mean she's not..." Doc stopped short.

Lily shook her head. She was privately surprised that Doc knew the extent of her own knowledge concerning Eden's mother. "No. She's not. She doesn't want to be either... on her guard, y'know?"

Doc's ring finger flecked a lock of black hair. "So was her mother."

Lily pitied the man for a moment. Caradoc Dearborn was a great wizard. He was head of a department in the Ministry of Magic and a close friend of Albus Dumbledore's, but he wasn't perfect. He didn't know much about his daughter.

"I try, Red," he said, suddenly earnest. "I mean... I try. But what can I do? I try to make it like it was for Marlene... I try to be her friend…"

And five minutes later, as Doc left Hogwarts, and Lily walked slowly to the Great Hall, she couldn't help but think that maybe that was the problem.

OoOoOoOoO 

**_NFtC: _**hmmm... not sure about this chapter. Too long for one thing. Hope you enjoyed it though!

And guys, c'mon. Review! I don't care if it's to flame or to say how terrible and drawn out and shameful and painful my writing is. I get way more hits than I do reviews... am I that bad? C'mon. help an innocent ha review-whore, and click me! (_where_ have I heard that term?)

Love to the reviewers: **_maraudersrock77_** ('ello, Hannah), **_RhiannonCat_** (here's ye update P), and **_Tasz_** (more power to ya. You always ask questions! It's possible to guess the answer to your latest, at this point, if you think hard about it I think that's the case... as the all-knowing author, I get mixed up as to what you know, and what I know, or you can just wait for a character to think hard and answer it for you).

And special thanks to **Occhio di Lince** for having a cool name and for pointing out that I have forgotten some things since seventh grade (last time I read that), and that I should research things before I quote them. LoL. I think it's been a while since Lily read it too. Cheers.

Cheers to all readers ('specially reviewers), though there weren't as many of the latter, sadly. Next chapter has been in the works for a long time, so it should be soon.

Includes: teachers, suspects, classes, trouble, **Marauders** (I _promise_!) Herbology, Psychology, Spanish, adjustment, and the introduction to "Shaken; Not Stirred" of one character I pray I can do justice to, because it's too great an opportunity to miss (can you guess who?) Cheers!


	7. Praedam, Silth, and Grossman

_Note from the cook:_ This didn't take me _too_ long. The chapter's not as long, but you should know that this chapter has been with this story since the beginning: since "ITISNS" was gonna span 7 years. Eek!

_Origins of the Recipe:_ all rights to JKR. Jewels owns zip, zilch, natta.

_Recap:_ Lily and James discover their memories have been modified and can't remember some details of the forest-extravaganza, though they get the basics. Alastar Moody comes to Hogwarts with some aurors, there's an introduction to Eden's family, Lexi avoids Frank's mom, Madame Pomfrey goes spastic, and the head students speculate on Dumbledore.

For those who don't like ten-year-long-chapters, I made this short-ish. Love to reviewers!

**Chapter 7- Praedam, Silth, and Grossman**

"_Not a shred of evidence exists in the favor of the idea that life is serious." –_Brendan Gill

And slowly (very slowly) things began to feel normal again.

Mothers finally stopped showing up- begging to see their children for the sixth millionth time; first years stopped asking the older students to show them protective spells; Moody stopped patrolling the castle corridors- jumping out at people who weren't supposed to be there; and the knowledge of impending classes was encouraging. Things began to feel more like Hogwarts again. Slightly.

Monday morning found the Marauders down to breakfast early, but it found most of the school there too. Professor Dumbledore was sitting in his proper spot again, and the bewitched sky overhead indicated good weather. Things were looking up.

Peter Pettigrew had finally been released from the Hospital Wing the day before, and he had been brought up to Dumbledore's office almost the moment Madame Pomfrey would allow it. Unfortunately, his memories seemed to have been similarly tampered with (he murmured something about 'not being able to remember all that shit' to James, just before he collapsed into bed that night), and despite the fact that Madame Pomfrey insisted that no one suspicious had come near them during the night, it was obvious something had happened. What exactly that was had been troubling James for some time now.

But as he consumed his forcefully larger-than-last-week's breakfast, he (ironically, perhaps) suppressed all thoughts of anything non-scholastic, and tried to focus on the imminent classes.

The Heads of Houses were walking up and down their house's table, handing out schedules. McGonagall approached the four Marauders (all at breakfast together for the first time that year) and paused, looking thoughtfully down at her list.

She handed Remus his schedule first, then shuffled through her papers some more. "Mr. Pettigrew..." she handed Peter his, then added strictly: "Miss Shaw has agreed to tutor you again this year in Charms. You'll work hard, if you want your N.E.W.T." Peter blushed and nodded.

"Potter and Black. There you are," she handed two schedules to James and Sirius. "I should warn you: if anything explodes in my class today, I will personally make sure you have detention every Friday night until December, whether I have proof it was your or not. Good morning." She proceeded grandly down the table, and the Marauders examined their schedules.

"We'd better have lots of classes together," mumbled Sirius, as his eyes scanned the paper. "Not like that rubbish last year, where we had separate Transfiguration and Charms."

"Ya," agreed James resentfully; "I had to take Charms with Hufflepuff and Slytherin."

"That's because you always got in trouble when you were with Padfoot," Remus said, as he too looked over his schedule. "9:00, Monday: Double Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw House..." he read aloud.

"Same," was the simultaneous and somewhat ritualistic reply of the other three.

"11:00, Herbology with- damn!- Slytherin."

"Ah shit," swore Sirius and James in unison, then as an afterthought, the latter added dejectedly: "same."

"Same," agreed Sirius and Peter.

"Mmm... then 12 o'clock: lunch..."

"Same."

"Then 1:00: Arithmancy..."

"Nope."

"Nuh-uh."

"Too bad, so what comes...?"

Remus interrupted Sirius's lame attempts to change the subject. "W-w-w-wait! You two..." he indicated to James and Sirius... "dropped Arithmancy?"

"Erm... possibly?"

"_Why?_" demanded a highly disappointed Remus. "I mean, okay, ya it's sort of boring, and... well... almost completely useless... but what the heck am I supposed to do during that time?"

"Well, Lily takes the class," suggested Sirius, looking sincerely- if slightly- sorry. "But c'mon, we just don't have enough time to take it! It's a complicated course!"

"You've always taken it with me before..." muttered Remus reproachfully.

"We had more pity for ya then, Moony," sighed James, clapping a hand on Remus's shoulder. Remus glared so menacingly, that James thought it best to scoot over a few inches. After a moment, the annoyed Marauder returned to his schedule, and read on, sounding thoroughly resentful.

"3:00, Transfiguration."

"Same."

"5:00 dinner."

"Mhm."

"What do _you_ guys have while I suffer through Arithmancy?" Remus asked, after a little while of reading through the Tuesday schedule, which varied.

Sirius glanced down at his own paper. "I'm free," he said, a little ashamed.

"Muggle studies," said Peter, making a face.

"Ya, I don't have anything either," said James; "but don't look so disappointed, Moony. I mean, you can probably do as much homework during Arithmancy as we can outside. Who would ever pay attention during that class anyway?"

Remus sighed and consumed his last slice of bacon. "So... onto the great unknown?" he asked, standing.

"If by the 'great unknown' you mean Defense Against Dark Arts, then yes," said Peter, standing also with the others.

"Who do you think the teacher is?" Sirius asked, glancing over his shoulder at the staff table, as they exited the hall. Several others were beginning to leave as well.

All week, there had been two new teachers sitting at the staff table, completely unfamiliar to the students. However, in the helter-skelter of the times, no one had bothered to introduce them. Rumor had spread throughout Hogwarts that their names were "Praeda" and "Silk," though which was which was yet to be discovered.

The Marauders were the first people to queue up in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that the NEWT level students would be using that year. After a few minutes, the pretty Rachel Brossle came, but she stood a few paces away. Remus raised his eyebrows at Sirius.

"I think Rach is mad at you," he murmured, so that she couldn't hear.

"No shit, Sherlock," snapped Sirius, also in an undertone.

"Why?"

Sirius shook his head in a 'not now' sort of way.

"W-w-w-wait! I thought _you_ said that _she_ broke up with _you!_" Remus accused in a whisper. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"She did. She was mad at me, hence she broke up with me."

"But that was last year!"

"Oh nice job, Moony. Would you repeat that a little louder? I think some people in Japan had a little trouble hearing you."

Sirius looked distinctly disgruntled as the other Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seventh years lined up behind them. Apparently, the teacher- whoever he was- was late, because they were standing there for a good ten minutes, chatting idly. Lexi Shaw came over to the Marauders after a few minutes.

"Peter, McGonagall said you've got tutoring on Thursdays, and James, Lily wanted me to give you this," she added wryly to the Marauder, handing him a slip of yellowing parchment. Sirius grinned.

"Awww, Lex. Nothing for me, love?"

Lexi gave him a supercilious look over her thin spectacles and returned to her friends. Sirius grinned and looked over James's shoulder at the parchment.

"Head duties," the Head Boy read in disgust. "Bloody Hell! They expect me to actually _do_ stuff?"

"Lily made you this?" Remus asked skeptically.

"No, it says it's from Dumbledore... there at the bottom," replied James.

"Head meetings every two weeks, eh?" said Peter, amused, as he too read the list. "How long do you give those two before they're dead, Guys? Three meetings?"

"Two at most," said Sirius with confidence.

"You guys are pathetic," sighed Remus. "I think Lily and James can work well together. I'm sure when push comes to shove, they can come up with a way of dealing with the situation of their respective Headships, in a calm, mature, manner."

A brief pause, then-

"No, no, no, Moony," said Sirius, "we're talking about _James and Lily_. You've met _them_, haven't you?"

Remus rolled his eyes, but before he had time to retort, an appropriate distraction came. It came in the form of one of the mystery teachers from the staff table. He was familiar to James, not only by his situation at meals, but also because he had been present on the night of the attack. He had been standing by the doors to the castle- along with Professor Slughorn and Filch- to usher students inside. Now he looked more cheerful.

"Hello, all," he said jovially. He was very slick: slick black hair, smooth black eyes, flawless complexion, and a perfectly strait nose. Even his long, billowing black robes were slick.

"Hello, sir," was the general reply.

"Are you the Dark arts teacher?" a Ravenclaw James didn't know piped up.

"'Fraid not. I'm Damien Silth. I'm stuck with 'Arithmancy.'"

"Stuck with?" laughed Sirius.

"Mmmm... rather dull, I'd say," sighed Professor Silth slickly.

"I'd agree," said Remus, smirking.

"Funny how I happen to be a genius in the subject I hate," Silth remarked lightly. "I don't have a class until ten, though, so it has its perks. Will I be having any of you at all?"

"We've got Arithmancy this afternoon," said Lily Evans, from a bit farther down the line, as she pointed to herself and to Lexi.

"Lovely," replied Silth. "No doubt you'll liven up the class for me, if it gets to dull."

"Too bad there aren't any Marauders in your class," said a Ravenclaw girl.

"Hey!" protested Remus.

"Marauders?" enquired Silth.

"That's us," explained Sirius uselessly.

Silth raised a perfectly arched black eyebrow. "Marauders, eh? Dare I ask?"

"I don't know, do you?"

"Yes..."

"We're the Marauders then," continued James, grinning. "McGonagall sort of accidentally named us. I'm James Potter."

"Sirius Black."

"Remus Lupin."

"P-Peter P-Pettigrew!"

"He's one?" asked Silth, a little confused, pointing to Peter.

"Yes," said Sirius indignantly.

"Alright, alright. And you're Marauders. You pillage and plunder sufficiently, I hope."

"More than sufficiently," assured Sirius.

"Pirates of sorts?"

"Quite. Just ask the house elves."

"I shall."

"Good."

"I do wish you were in my class now. You could pillage and plunder to your heart's content there. Not much worth pillaging, except some of my potions stores, but..."

"Oh, we'll drop by any time we can," said James, smirking. "We'll steal anything you like."

"Can I put you in detention?"

"Of course. If you couldn't, there'd be no point in stealing from you."

"You like detention?"

"No, but we like the threat of it."

Silth laughed. "You remind me if my nephew."

"Is that good?"

"No, he's dead."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"You don't have a nephew, Professor, do you?"

"Nope."

The class watched the Marauders banter with the professor, snickering. They had now moved on to the subject of Quidditch. "No, I'm a Wasps fan, myself."

"Wasps? You're joking! The Wanderers are the greatest!" protested James.

"Maybe, but I'm from..."

"Damien!"

Professor Silth's tangent was cut short by a new arrival: the other new professor. He was entirely different.

He was equally tall and thin, but with short- though somewhat disorderly (as if he'd been wearing a hat all day long)- white hair, and bushy white eyebrows. He had no beard, but looked to be in his late sixties (which suggested he was much older). The outermost robes he wore were long and black- thin looking, and less slick than Professor Silth's, though more elegant. These robes were unfastened, but the forest green ones under it buttoned up to just above the waste. Under the green robes, a tan colored waistcoat was visible, decorated with complicated stitches and beads. His posture was hunched over, and he rubbed his hands together in a sort of nervous way, as he watched Silth judgmentally with amber eyes.

The class stared at him expectantly. "Damien, this is my class now," he barked to Professor Silth.

"I know it well enough, Becket," replied Silth coolly.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't distract them."

"You were late."

"You aren't supposed to be here at all."

Professor Silth glared. "Well then, Becket. I'll not bother you. I'll leave you to your master plan. See you later, students." And he turned on his heal before the students could bid farewell, and disappeared down the corridor.

"Well," said the professor finally, now observing the students with analytical eyes; "you're the seventh years, I suppose?"

There was general murmur of assent.

James didn't like this professor as much as he liked Silth, and he almost wished that he were taking Arithmancy, for that reason alone. Almost. But this new professor had driven the amusing Silth away, and was temporary public enemy number one.

"Well then come in," said the anonymous professor, and as he said this, he turned his back to the students and opened the door to the classroom.

The NEWT students took classes in different sorts of classrooms than they had for their previous six years, so taking in the sight was a new experience for all except the teacher. The room was cavernous and grand, and drapes hung from the walls, either out of the professor's particular design, or because it had always been that way. Books covered the walls, all looking menacing and dark, and distinctly dangerous.

The room smelled funny- but the scent (familiar as it was) was unspecified in James's memory, and he couldn't for the life of him remember where he could've smelled something as indescribably faint as that. The seventh years of both houses began to file into the desks, choosing their seats, and the four Marauders chose usual (and enviable) spots near the back of the classroom, which nobody doubted to be their privilege.

The professor watched all this from the doorway before he proceeded with very bad posture and a wobbly walk to the front of the classroom. There, he stared at them again for another few moments, then finally spoke.

"I'm Becket Praedam," he said, his voice quiet, and now changed from a sharp one to that similar to a kindly old grandfather. "_This_," he continued to croak, "is Defense Against the Dark Arts."

No one was quite sure what to say to this, so they said nothing. James exchanged "looks" with Sirius, Remus, and Peter (Sirius and Remus were seated at his left and right, and Peter in front of Remus), as if to silently speculate what this year was going to be like.

They'd never had a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for more than one year running (some of them didn't even last that long), and it was always a point of curiosity as to what this year's victim would be like. James watched Professor Praedam carefully, and tried to assess him. He'd be easy to win over, James thought; a bit like Professor Slughorn really: eager to be popular with the students. Whether this assessment was true or not, it did provide satisfaction for both the Head Boy and the Marauder in James.

"In your past six years here," Praedam was continuing to say, "I understand that you have been unable to maintain a steady teacher, but this year (though it little affects you), that is going to change. I will be here as long as Hogwarts wants me."

This was nothing new. _All _the Dark Arts teachers said that. _All_ of them left, willfully or not.

"This year's program is a little different than what you have done before too. It is my understanding that you have all had..." Praedam pulled out a slip of parchment from his waistcoat pocket, with his wrinkled, even gnarled hand... "two years total of studying dark creatures..." he read... "two years of dark curses, jinxes, hexes, etcetera. And two years of the theory and practice of defense by practical and magical methods, as with vampires."

There was a murmur of "Yes, Sir," and then the room went quiet, as the students waited for Praedam to tell them something they didn't already know. "This year is going to be a little different," the Professor went on in his croaky tone; "this year, we will be studying a little history."

There was a distinct groan. Everyone here had taken History of Magic for at least five years, and no one liked it. Perhaps it was the fact that the teacher, Professor Binns- a ghost-, was the only person ever to be able to make violent tales of torture and death sound as interesting as the Gossips chatting about hair care. Maybe less.

"It is probably not the sort of history that you've studied in the past," Praedam continued, "for it is the history of dark wizards. Nothing else. We will study them- their pattern of behavior, their histories, and you will see how this can help when one is faced with the threat of Dark Wizard such as... well... you know who I mean."

Praedam looked a little satisfied at the combination of intrigued and pale faces that filled the classroom. He almost smiled, but instead said: "Now. Who knows anything about Grindewald?"

**OoOoOoOoOoOoO**

"He's an odd teacher," Remus was saying, almost two hours later, as they made their way to Herbology.

"Mmm... an odd teacher who makes you take too many notes," Sirius observed, looking over a yard or so of scribbled on and doodled on parchment.

"He's funny," said Peter. "I liked his jokes."

"His jokes?" laughed James. "They were stupid puns, Wormtail."

Peter blushed. "Well, yes, but I still liked them," he mumbled.

"Whoa," Sirius laughed; "Worms has a crush on the new teacher!"

"Do not!" said Peter, blushing even more furiously as Lexi Shaw and Eden Dearborn passed, the former rolling her eyes sardonically.

"Ya, well, we all know how Sirius has got it bad for Grossman," Remus said, nudging Sirius in the arm.

"Hell ya. She's _so_ fine... don't get jealous, Moony!"

"Moony? Jealous?" James joined in, as if surprised; "are we gonna have to tell McGonagall you're cheating on her, Remus? That _won't_ make her happy..."

"Oh no, anything but that," said Remus wryly.

Sirius, James, and Peter laughed loudly, and it was a lucky thing that their spirits were high, for Herbology always lowered them by one hundred and ten percent. They exited the great oak doors and the entrance hall, and made their way down the sloping hill towards the greenhouses.

The scene could not have looked more different than it had on that night a week previously. The sun shone, though it was a little chilly, and the lawn and lake were undisturbed and debris-less. The Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years walked the way cheerfully downhill, as other students walked even more cheerfully uphill.

James's attention was briefly diverted from joking with his friends, however, when he caught the eye of a familiar figure, standing a few feet away from the entrance to Greenhouse Three, as he talked to a student. The student was trembling under Alastar Moody's gaze.

Though he couldn't hear what they were saying, James was pretty sure that Moody was warning the young wizard about something or another. As the Head Boy came closer, the student nodded anxiously, then hurried off towards the crowded line of students.

"Morning, Potter," said Moody, seeing James, and lifting his hand for a greeting.

"Morning, Moody. What'dya hear?"

"Not enough," replied the auror. As he said this, he stuck a finger in his ear and shook violently for a moment, and James had to work to suppress a grin. "How's the Old Man doing?" Moody continued, once he was done. "Haven't seen him around the ministry in over a month... sick again?"

"Mmm... 'fraid so." James stepped out of the line he was holding up to talk more conveniently, and Sirius followed. Remus made an unspoken but fully acknowledged agreement with them to save seats.

"The poison again?" asked Moody, even more gruffly than usual.

James nodded stiffly. "The Healers say he'll never fully recover."

Moody sighed. "The best auror of his generation... taught me y'know..."

James grinned. "Ya, I know."

The Auror looked over at Sirius. "Black," he acknowledged, with almost as much familiarity.

"Moody," replied Sirius, taking the offered hand and shaking it briefly.

"How's the family?" There was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Oh you know," said Sirius sarcastically; "as lovely and self-righteous as ever, I suppose. Got a letter from my cousin- the senior house-elf got old, and they promptly cut off its head and mounted it on the wall, as a reminder to all house-elves not to age."

"A good thing to keep in mind for all of us," said a new voice.

Keira Brighton, the auror who had been present at the train inspecting, and the personal friend of many, came up, smiling in her smirk-like fashion. Her muscular arms were folded, and her posture projected the usual "don't-mess-with-me-I-could-kick-your-ass" air.

"What's this?" she said; "a reunion of the New Year's Party, and no one invites me?"

"It's 'cos we hate you, Bright," sighed Sirius.

"Already knew that," said Bright, shrugging. "What goes on, anyway?"

"Herbology, unfortunately..." replied James, jabbing his finger towards the door to the greenhouse, which was still being flooded by students.

"Grossman still a bitch?"

"Of course."

"So," said Bright, smiling widely; "you'd rather go gallivanting about in the forest than the greenhouses, I expect."

"Bright!" came Moody's sharp reprimand.

Bright smirked. "Fine, fine. Keep your secrets. I've gotta go- I've got the next patrol in the village- see ya 'round..."

Moody cast a warning look at James. "I'd better follow- make sure she doesn't start any brawls in the pub... Potter, Black..."

"See you 'round, Moody."

"Bye."

Moody turned and walked toward the path that led to Hogsmeade, and James and Sirius turned and walked toward the path that led to their doom and Herbology. Sirius gave his best friend a curious look.

"What was that about the forest?" he asked.

"I'll tell you later," James replied, dismissively, without the slightest intention of doing so. He had an excuse, however, for they were entering the Greenhouse, and the teacher, Adelaide Grossman, was too, though she was coming from the opposite end.

"Good morning, class," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"Good morning, Professor Grossman," groaned the class.

"Well, you've all made it this far," she continued, stepping to the head of the center table, and smirking at them. "One more year, and then we must part."

"How _will_ we survive?" James muttered sarcastically to the others.

"Well Sirius might have some trouble," Remus whispered, and Sirius rolled his eyes.

Adelaide Grossman was... large.

Everything about her was large.

She was around six feet tall, and rather on the plump side. Her hair was bushy, frizzy, brown, and large, but her eyes were just brown and large. Her face was round, and her nose was long and up-turned. Her robes were too tight to be flattering on her, and her vindictive smile too broad.

Everyone loathed her, but it wasn't because of any of these things.

"Straiten your tie, Dearborn," the professor snapped suddenly, to Eden Dearborn. The student complied, smiling falsely, but when Professor Grossman looked away, she loosened it again. "Miss Black, stop talking," she added to one of Sirius's second cousin- a Slytherin- who, though Sirius wouldn't have admitted it, hadn't been talking.

"Now, if you can buckle down and stop goofing off- Miss Prewett!" Alice stopped picking at a hangnail- "than maybe I'll be able to drill something into your skulls. Maybe."

"I doubt it," muttered Sirius.

"So do I, Black," retorted Grossman, apparently having heard Sirius's sad attempts at quietude. "Now, I believe I have an assignment to collect from you..."

There was a rustling of papers, as the students took their summer assignments out of their bags, to turn in. "Pettigrew," Professor Grossman churned to Peter, "Collect it."

Peter walked up and down the three long tables, collecting everyone's respective essays. When he had them all, he walked up to Grossman, handed them to her, and hurried back to his spot along the table, in between Remus and a glaring Slytherin. Grossman shuffled through the papers, making remarks occasionally, such as: "too short, Snape," or "the writing's awfully big, Miss Evans."

James saw that Lily looked more than a little miffed at this. '_Never could take criticism,_' he thought, a little annoyed. '_Even when it's just a teacher's.'_

"Well, well," said the Professor, when she was finally done; "obviously we'll have _a lot_ to review. But never mind. Today, we have to move forward, a little, if you think you can handle it. This year is your N.E.W.T. year, which means you'll have a lot of work ahead of you. It is very important that you pay attention, complete your homework, and perform well on tests. It has come to the point where it's a matter of career or no career..."

The speech continued, but James lost interest. Sirius had pulled out a slip of parchment and placed it in front of them on the table.

"Tic Tac Toe," he scribbled across the top.

James grinned, grabbed the quill inconspicuously, and placed an 'X' in the middle box. Sirius took the quill back and wrote an 'O' in the right corner box.

Thirty seconds later, they'd arrived at a Cat's game, and remade the Tic Tac Toe table to start again. Grossman was still talking.

"Now. Today, we'll be working in partners," she was saying, for she didn't notice the two Marauders' inattentiveness; everyone groaned. It was common knowledge what "working in partners" meant in Herbology. Grossman pulled out a list of her own. "You all will be working on how to extract the roots of a locusta plant. I have already appointed you in pairs, so when I read your name... well, you know the drill. Collista Black..." the dark haired Slytherin girl (Sirius's second cousin) looked up with interest as Grossman called her name, "you will be with Miss Dearborn."

Eden glared dangerously at Sirius, as if this was somehow his fault, and stayed put, challenging Collista to come down to her end of the table.

"_Mr._ Black and Dana Zabini..." a highly made-up Slytherin girl looked somewhat thrilled to be paired with Sirius.

"Miss Brossle and Snape."

Rachel Brossle didn't try to hide her disgust.

"Evans and Potter..."

Lily groaned. Somehow she'd known it would happen. Grossman loved pairing people she thought would fight. Eden and Collista? Black and that Zabini slut? Rachel and Severus Snape? Lily and James... just another unfortunate couple of victims to suffer at the hands of Professor Grossman.

She glared across the table at Potter, who was a few seats down, looking shocked and annoyed. Their eyes met for a moment, and a certain empathy for the other passed through the brown and the green ports, but it vanished quickly, leaving only enmity. Lily looked away stubbornly. She wasn't moving. James would have to come and sit on her side.

"If she thinks I'm going to move, she's dead wrong," James muttered, more to himself than to Remus, who was only one left next to him. He was watching a mockingly oblivious Lily with anger. "She's gonna have to come and sit on my side."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about, Prongs?"

"_Her_!" murmured James furiously; "she's so stubborn."

"Yes, I'm glad _you're_ not like that," Remus replied sarcastically.

"Don't mock me."

"Who's mocking...?"

"You."

"Right. Well, I'm sure she's going to quiver under that stare. No way in hell she'll expect to be allowed to stay on that side, eh, James?"

"Damn strait. She'll just have to go without a partner if she thinks she can..."

"Lupin and Miss Malfoy..." said Grossman.

"Gotta go, Prongs..."

Remus left him, but James stayed put. Lily had returned to staring him down- or trying to anyway. They stayed like that for a while. Lexi was paired with Paul Montreal- Alice with a hulking Slytherin boy. Still they didn't move.

The rest of the class had been assigned partners.

They remained resolute.

Everyone else was opening up their books to get their directions.

They did not move.

The others were starting to work on their project.

Still, they glared.

"To work, Potter," barked Grossman.

Lily smirked victoriously. James got out his book and turned to the appropriate page. "Hey, Red," he called, across the table, "You ready to get started?"

Lily glared. "Don't call me 'Red' and yes, I _am_ ready..."

"Ready? You'd rather me call you that? But there's only on syllable difference anyway..."

"Oh shut up, Potter."

Several students around them were either smirking or rolling their eyes at the exchange, but Lily paid little or no attention. "Alright then, read me the directions," she said coldly to James across the table.

James looked at the page in his Herbology book. "Take the thickest root other than the central one," he dictated dully. Lily did so. "Twist once around thumb and..."

"Potter!"

Grossman was standing over James's shoulder, a cold expression in her large eyes. She looked at James superciliously. "Potter, what are you doing?"

"The assignment..."

"Where is Evans?"

"Over there." James pointed to Lily, who gave a sort of half salute, before returning to the plant. Grossman raised heavy eyebrows.

"Potter, Evans is your partner."

"Crazy, isn't it?"

"Potter, go sit next to her... now."

Reluctantly, James stood and walked the length of the table, carrying his bag on a slumped shoulder. Once he'd made it to Lily's side of the table (the Head Girl was grinning victoriously), he tossed his bag on the floor and slid onto a stool two spaces away from her.

"_Potter_," warned Grossman.

James, still glaring, stood up again and sat on the stool directly to her right. "Comfortable?" asked Lily innocently.

"Shut up."

He was glaring at Grossman, however. Lily didn't know why he was so mad at her- it was to be expected that the teacher would make him sit next to his partner. Then again, if it had been she who was forced to give in, she would've been a little very furious herself. "Okay, Potter," she said, surprisingly sympathetic; "what next?"

"Twist the largest non-central root around your thumb," James repeated, not looking at the book.

"Right. Got that. What next?"

James, still glaring at Grossman, who had long since moved on, did not even glance at the page. "Pull," he said, through gritted teeth. Lily complied.

"OUCH!"

The root of the plant was tugging violently at her thumb, and Lily could not get it free. "Oh shit," James swore, trying to pull the plant away.

"Shit, Potter. What the hell are you doing?" Lily shrieked at him, still unable to release her ever-reddening thumb. James- with a look of mingled fright and confusion- did not reply at first, but continued in pulling the broccoli-like stocks up. But the plant would not let go.

Most of the class had stopped to watch, but Grossman was attending to one of the few students who had not, and she hadn't seemed to notice the commotion. James pulled upward and Lily downward but the root would not let go, and the unfortunate Head Girl's thumb was now turning purple.

"Shit, Potter," Lily cried, on the verge of tears, "get it off- get it off!"

James was obviously trying his best too, but that didn't seem to be quite enough. Lily's face was growing as red as her thumb hadbeen. It was screwed up, as if trying very hard not to cry. For a moment, she thought seriously about grabbing the knife in her supply kit and cutting off her finger, when suddenly, the pain stopped.

Eden was standing on the opposite end of the table, squeezed in a place other than her own seat, with a wand drawn and pointed directly at what had been holding Lily's hand captive. The locusta plant had exploded. A few flecks of green rained down into Lily's and James's hair, and Paul Montreal had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit by the large heavy central root, but other than that, the debris was minimal.

Everyone stared for a few seconds, recovering from the very much exploded locusta plant. It was the deep breadth before the plunge, for a moment later, Lily turned to James, and the expression in her eyes told him quite clearly that pretty things were not about to happen.

"What the _hell_ was that" she shrieked.

Everyone else busied themselves with their respective plants. Lily continued to stare James down. "That was me accidentally giving you the wrong directions?" he asked hopefully. Lily ran a hand through her hair.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five... Six... sev... eigh... ni... ten! Okay that's it. Are you out of your mind? My finger could've been squeezed off!" she thrust her merely red thumb in his face a little dramatically.

"Technically, a thumb isn't a finger..."

"Potter, you son of a bitch! What is your problem! You told me to..."

"I'm sorry!"

"Look at this..."

"I'm sorry!"

"Do you have any idea what...?"

"I'm sorry!"

"What the hell is your problem, anyway?"

"Miss Evans!"

The eyes of the two head students met momentarily, and they both exchanged unspoken words that were probably along the lines of: "You're screwed," before Lily looked over her shoulder at an infuriated Professor Grossman, and James sat back to see what ensued.

"Miss Evans, what is going on?" shrieked Grossman, her face as red as Lily's thumb.

"James was playing a prank on me, and he told me the wrong..."

"Oh shut up," said Grossman, either to Lily, or to James who had tried to interrupt. "Alright: to the Headmaster's office. Both of you. Now."

"But..."

"Now."

"But I..."

"_Now_, Potter."

"But he..."

"_Now_, Miss Evans."

"But..."

"NOW!"

Reluctantly, rebelliously, but undoubtedly, the Head boy and Head Girl slid off their stools in unison, picked up their separate school bags with identical coolness and indifference, and walked out of the greenhouse, without so much as a "I'm doing it because I want to, not because you told me to." Once outside, they walked to the castle in silence, and once in the castle, they made their way for the third time in a period of one week to Dumbledore's tower office.

When they came to the griffin, James offered: "Caramel Cobwebs."

But nothing happened.

"Happen to know the new password, since you obviously know so much about Herbology?" asked Lily, voice dripping with cynicism as she nursed her thumb pitiably.

"It was an _accident_."

"I'm sure."

"It was!"

"Whatever."

James rolled his eyes. "Standing here arguing wont get us into his office," he pointed out with would-be responsibility.

"And we _want_ to get into his office?"

"Well I don't know about you, but I don't want to go back to Herbology..."

Lily sighed. "Well you're the expert concerning the Headmaster's office. What next?"

"Usually I have a teacher with me," shrugged James, "or at least they tell me the password. But it usually is a kind of candy. So use your imagination. You have one of those, don't you?"

"You're _so_ funny," snapped Lily, "Erm... cockroach clusters," she added to the statue.

Nothing happened.

"Bertie Bots Every Flavor Beans..."

Nothing.

"Sugar Quills!"

"Drooble's Best Blowing Gum!"

"Licorice wand!"

"Honeyduke's Best!"

"Maid's Milk Chocolate!"

"What?"

"Never mind... Acid Pops!"

"Ick. Jelly Dragons!"

"Blood Suckers!"

"Gra... wait! Look. It worked."

"Blood suckers?" Lily asked, eyebrows raised.

"No accounting for taste," shrugged James, but the griffin _had_ begun to turn, and the stairway to Dumbledore's office appeared. "After you," he added in an undertone.

Lily looked superior, but stepped onto the stair first anyway. Once they'd both reached the top, they knocked on the door. There was no answer. The two looked at eachother, once again united in the cause of getting into Dumbledore's office.

"Just barge in?" suggested James, to the unvoiced question.

"You can't just _barge_ in," Lily replied, unconsciously rolling her eyes.

"Why not?"

"_Because_."

"That's not an answer."

"Because you can't!"

"Well that's an answer, but it rots."

"Well... I don't know. You just can't do that! It's rude and stuff!"

"We were sent to the Headmaster's office... how would it look if he comes back and sees us standing here?"

"He won't come back using the stairway."

"You don't know that."

"Well it seems logical."

"Right..." James took a stepped forward and put his hand on the knob to push open the door. Lily jumped in front of him.

"No!" she insisted.

"Red, you're being ridiculous!"

"_Don't_ call me 'Red!'"

"_Don't_ tell me what to do!"

"_You_ don't tell _me_ what to do!"

"Bitch."

"Bastard."

"Slut."

"Whore."

"Prostitute!"

"Erm... jezebel!"

"_Jezebel?_"

"Never mind."

They paused and Lily stepped away from the door. The two considered it for almost a full minute, deciding what the best course of action would be.

"Fine, you can open it," Lily conceded finally.

"No..." said James slowly, surprising Lily. "You were right. We should wait here."

"_No_," pressed Lily, sighing; "I don't think so. It would look weird if we just waited here. We should go sit in his office and..."

"No, no. We can't just barge in and make ourselves at home."

"But we were sent here."

"But that was under the assumption that Dumbledore would be here."

"But he wouldn't mind..."

"You don't know that!"

Lily stepped forward and made for the doorknob, but this time, James leaned over and held it shut. "I just don't think we should go in!"

"You're _so_ polite," said Lily sardonically.

"And you're _so_ detestable!"

"Can you even _spell_ detestable, Potter?"

"Shut up."

"I don't care what you do, Potter. _I'm_ going in..."

She stepped forward to open the door, but before her hand had made contact with the knob, the door opened from the inside. Dumbledore stood there.

"I'm sorry; I must have fallen asleep."

Lily stepped back so as to be the same distance from the Headmaster as James was. He was trying to hide a smirk, so she kicked him as inconspicuously as she could. Dumbledore looked at them curiously.

"Grossman sent us," James explained succinctly.

"_Professor_ Grossman," corrected Dumbledore.

"Who's that?"

A ghost of a smile flitted across Dumbledore's aged face. "Come in." As they entered, James sincerely hoped that Dumbledore really had been asleep, and hadn't heard his "conversation" (if one could really call it that) with the Head Girl. "Won't you sit?" the Headmaster offered, indicating to the two still present chairs before his desk.

It was becoming a bit of a habit for Lily to sit in those hard, uncomfortable chairs. At this rate, she was bound to get very attached to them by the end of the year. Once the two head students and the headmaster were seated, the latter prompted the former to speak.

"Would you like to explain or should I guess?"

"We were arguing," volunteered James.

"You're in shock, Professor, aren't you?" sighed Lily.

"Quite. What I fail to understand is why you were sent here..." He trailed off.

"Well... we were arguing rather loud," James began.

"Loudly," Lily corrected quietly.

"Shut it."

"_Please_," interrupted Professor Dumbledore, before Lily could retort. She quailed slightly under his stare, as did James. "I realize that this has been a stressful time for you two, but I would remind you that it has been stressful for us all. I told you before that this would be a hard year, and I see it will likely be more so than I foresaw. But, James and Lily, it will be hard enough without weekly squabbles and quarrels between the Head Boy and Girl. You two are an example for the other students. Where you lead, they will follow."

**OoOoOoOoO**

Guilty? Guilty didn't begin to cover it.

"I'm sorry, Red," James said, ten minutes later as they made their way slowly towards the Great Hall. There was no point in returning to Herbology, for Grossman wouldn't be pleased, and it was almost over anyway.

"Me too."

"Your finger okay?"

Lily looked at her thumb. It wasn't as red, but it still hurt a great deal. "Yeah. It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Liar."

"I'm sorry for shouting and swearing and all that."

"S'kay."

They entered the Great Hall, both feeling extremely guilty.

Dumbledore was right, Lily thought. They were being selfish. Their arguments were pointless and more for self-gratification than anything else. It felt good to argue with someone. It felt good to shout, because when she was shouting, she didn't have to think too hard. She could just exist in the moment. And it was an easy way to vent.

Potter had always been an easy way to vent.

He slid into a seat at the empty Gryffindor table, and for half a moment Lily was going to slide in across from him. But she caught herself before redemption was beyond her grasp. Redemption?

She wasn't entirely sure how the term "redemption" crossed her mind to suggest avoiding James Potter, but she knew it had. She'd redeemed herself before she had passed the point of no return, and was, at present, safe. As long as she didn't sit down, which would inevitably mean some sort of doom. But why all the cliché phrases?

"See ya 'round, Potter," Lily said, in the most casual tone she could muster. She walked to the opposite end of the table and slid into a spot on the bench that was about as far away from the Head Boy as she could get. And she sat there and thought until the others began to come into lunch.

OoOoOoOoO

It killed me to cut this chapter, I'll have you know. But for your own good, I did anyway. You should be quite happy with me. This chapter kicked serious ass before, now it's just... okay. Lol. But my chapters are too long- so you guys are right. However, the cutting of this chapter meant the cutting of some things I promised in the last chapter- I know! Terrible, isn't it? Those will all DEFINITELY (for sure, you can sue me if they're not) be in ch. 8, which will be up soon, if YOU REVIEW!

I love the following:

**_Stasya_- **thanks SO much for the encouraging review! Hope you continue to read!

**_Occhio di Lince-_** LoL! I laughed so hard at your review! Sounds like something I would do! I've had some very... erm... interesting... first dates. By 'interesting,' I mean 'disastrous.' NOT MY FAULT! Well... okay, maybe they were... but I digress. Thanks for the review!

**_Maraudersrock77:_**thanks for the enthusiastic review! (_blush_) sorry for the long chapter...

**_Jami:_**you get the 'first person to review the chapter' award, along with a cookie. _Gives cookie to Jami._ Thanks six zillion times over. _Hands mug of butterbeer. _Cheers!

**_Mkiara-_** cookies and cheers to ya, for being so sweet and shwanky. Glad you enjoyed:-D

**_GaryLovesPickles_**- lol! Yummy pickles! Thanks a lot! I read one of your stories, didn't I? cos your name is really familiar...

If you read this whole thing, but didn't review... (teacher voice) I am very disappointed in you :-P

Cheers to ya'll.

-Jewels-


	8. Heading Hogwarts

_Origins of the Recipe:_ anything original is mine. Anything from canon is Ms. Rowling's.

_A/N:_ I pay my own price for long chapters. It takes me forever to search through them, to see how much the characters know as of yet, and what I'm allowed to reveal! It's a pain in the ass. Stupid, Jewels.

_Recap of last time_: Stuff happens. Lily and James name-call and swear. A lot.

**Chapter 8- Heading Hogwarts**

"_Humankind cannot stand very much reality." -_T.S. Eliot

Elijah.

His name ran through Lily's head repeatedly, as she lie in bed Wednesday night (or was it Thursday morning?), completely unable to sleep. Elijah.

She'd thought about him more frequently than usual over the last week, and she had of yet been unable to discover why. She wrote to him twice, even though the second time she hadn't really had much to say, but she'd felt the need to write him. If it wasn't for her pride, which told her she would look pathetic if she sent him three owls in one week, before he'd replied to the first one, than she would've gotten up right that moment and scribbled up another note for him.

Elijah.

'_I love him_,' she thought silently, as she heard the grandfather clock in the corridor outside strike two. _'I love Elijah, and that's a good deal more than I've admitted for any other boyfriend I've ever had. I've _almost_ always "liked" them, and wanted to be with them, but I've never actually loved them. But Elijah's different. He's funny and romantic, but not in the dull, mushy, predictable way- not in a chick-flick way. He's just sweet and romantic. Genuinely. Well, okay, he is a bit of a player sometimes, but he's just..._'

Elijah.

She loved him.

What? was there a law against that now?

So she was in love with her boyfriend! So what?

Why did it sound so weird?

_'I love Elijah.'_

Maybe if she said it enough times in her head, it would sound less weird. Probably not, but it was worth a try. _'I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah. I love Elijah.'_

Nope. Still sounded weird.

Lily rolled over in her bed, slipping her bare shoulder under the warmth of the thick blanket. She was annoyed with herself, and not just for wearing a sheer camisole to bed on a chilly night like that. She mentally shook herself.

Lily Evans loved Elijah Trent. End of story.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"Transfiguration?"

"That essay."

"Oh right. Gotcha. Um... Potions?"

"The essay, the list of questions he wants us to answer, and the chapter summary."

"Ugh. DA?"

"Recap the chapter in a paragraph."

"Damn. Am I supposed to sleep at all this weekend? Or eat?"

"No, E. You're getting too fat anyway."

Eden looked down at her nonexistent hips. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Sarcasm- do you know what that means, or should I go get a dictionary?"

The two girls sat in the Library on Thursday afternoon, going over the homework they'd been assigned. At least, Eden was asking Lily to read it off, because Lily always wrote it down, and Eden never did.

"What first period do I have tomorrow?" whispered Eden, searching fruitlessly through her already messy school bag for her schedule.

"We're both free."

"Really?" Eden perked. "Good- I need to start going running again. I haven't run at all in the two weeks we've been back, and Quidditch starts tomorrow."

"Lovely- I'm expecting you to win again this year, E. If you don't, I'll have to kill you." Eden shrugged off Lily's threats.

"Well, I'm only ever-so-slightly worried."

"That I'll kill you, or about the team?"

"The team."

This took the Head Girl aback slightly, and she raised her eyebrows at the blonde across from her. Eden didn't notice, because she was pulling her hair into a high but messy ponytail on the back of her head, more out of habit than anything else. When she finally did notice that Lily was expecting her to explain her apprehensions, she sighed and looked down at the book she was supposed to be reading.

"I don't know," she sighed, in reply to the unvoiced but ever-present question.

"You don't know?" muttered Lily back, looking over her shoulder to make sure that Madame Pince, the librarian, did not bite them for talking too loudly.

"Well... Gideon and Fabian are gone, y'see..."

"Riiight... isn't that what the tryouts are going to determine? To find someone to fill their positions?"

"Mhm. The Captain picks."

"Okay... where's the problem? You don't think he can find someone good enough?"

"Well, James is Captain, see, and... I dunno. I'm just worried about Lex."

Lily slammed her book shut. It was the only way she could think of, short of shouting, to express the sudden surge of anger that passed through her.

"SHH!" snapped Madame Pince, immediately leaping upon the two like a vulture.

"Sorry," the girls muttered simultaneously.

When the Librarian had disappeared behind a bookshelf, Lily glared at Eden. "What do you mean you're worried about Lex?" she hissed. "You don't think she can do a good enough job to make the team again?"

"First of all, Lily," Eden said uncomfortably, "she was only a replacement last year for Gideon and Fabian's frequent injuries..."

"Right," pressed Lily quietly but fiercely, "but she played for Gideon last year against Ravenclaw... you guys had to win by two hundred points, and she scored about twenty times, so when Potter caught the snitch, you won by two hundred and _ten_ points!"

"You have a good memory," commented Eden lightly.

"Thank-you."

"Listen, I'm not worried about Lexi's capabilities. I _remember_ last year, Lily. If we'd lost to Ravenclaw, or won by less than two hundred, we'd have been out of the running for the cup. So I know she can play well..."

"But...?"

"But I don't know if she'll want to try out for anything other than replacement."

"Oh."

"Which means Potter is likely to pick Redival Shelley for chaser..."

"_WHAT?_"

"Miss Evans!" Madame Pince was glaring over Lily's shoulder again.

"Er... sorry, Madame Pince. Won't happen again. I just… erm... discovered some fascinating new discoveries on..." her lie faltered. "heh... sorry...?" Madame Pince finally retreated again, and Lily leaned forward to whisper to Eden.

"_Redival Shelley_ is trying out?"

"Mhm. Didn't you know? She's been practically bragging to all the sixth year girls."

"You know I never listen to a word any of the sixth year girls say, except maybe Guen."

"Well, she's been saying she's going to try out for Chaser this year, since there's _finally_ an opening."

"Is she good at Quidditch?" Lily asked, annoyed with her own curiosity.

"I have no idea, but if Lexi wont play..."

"Then Potter is likely to pick the prettiest decent player he can get away with."

"No, but he's likely to pick _her_ over all the even dizzier sixth year girls that tryout for the position."

Lily was inexplicably annoyed, but eventually, she managed to blame it on the idea that Potter would settle for anyone less than Lexi. The explanation was irrational, but it was less so than any other one that Lily could think up.

"But there are three chaser positions, aren't there?" Lily asked, after a few minutes of artificial studying.

"Mmmm..." said Eden lazily, who hadn't been studying either, but had, in fact, been doodling in the book. There was a very well illustrated eye in the corner of page six hundred and twelve.

"Well then, assuming Frank Longbottom gets his spot on the team again, there would be two spots open. So Potter couldn't just chose Redival as a replacement for Lexi, could he? There's still an open space, and he would 'imperius' Lexi, before he'd let a dizzy sixth year girl on _his_ Quidditch team!"

"Mackey Simpson has unspoken dibs on the other chaser position," Eden sighed, resting her face in her palm that wasn't holding a quill.

"Who's Mackey Sim...?"

"Fourth year. Brilliant chaser. Would've made the team last year, but he tied with Frank Longbottom during tryouts, and Frank- being the older- got the preference. Played replacement for Frank during the first match last year, actually- when Frank got "mysteriously injured" five minutes before the game- on the same corridor as the Slytherin common room." Eden glared resentfully at the memory of the incident.

"So Mackey, Frank, and whoever as chasers, yourself and Black as beaters, Paul Montreal as Keeper, and Potter of course as seeker. Lots of upperclassmen."

"Mhm. And if we're lucky we can get lots of good underclassman as replacements, because Frank is accident prone, and five or six players are graduating this year, so future generations of players will need experience."

Lily sighed. "Well we'd better convince Lexi to play this year... it would... er... be good for her." Eden gave Lily a brief, but odd look, which the Head Girl did her best to avoid meeting.

Then, as if nothing had happened (and it hadn't, really), the blonde stretched her thin arms out and yawned, saying: "Well... I'm tired of pretending to study..." she closed her book and stood. "I'm gonna go track down James and ask him what time tryouts are tomorrow. See yeah later, Red."

Not caring that she had talked in a normal tone, and that Madame Pince was glaring at her once more, Eden turned and sauntered out of the library in her almost-but-not-quite-swishing manner. Lily yawned too, but returned to the homework before her, because she _did_ have quite a lot to do.

"'_Red' _is it now?" asked a cold voice quietly, from somewhere to Lily's left. She flinched ever-so-slightly at the sound of that particular person's unmissed tone, then returned to answering number 6 of her Potions homework. "So we're all going along with Potter's nicknames now?" continued the visitor, his voice sounding closer.

Lily did not look up; rather, she dipped her quill in the inkwell next to her, and wrote her answer, pressing harder on the parchment. "You should be glad you're not nicknamed for _your_ hair," she said simply, if venomously.

"Mmm... maybe I should go ask Potter if he'll be so kind as to let me have another nickname too... or does he reserve that for the mudbloods and muggle-lovers."

"If I'm supposed to be flattered that you're speaking to me, Snape, I'm not," said Lily coldly. "So shove off. Don't degrade yourself a second longer by talking to a lowly little muggleborn like me."

"'Muggleborn' is a romanticized term," sneered Severus Snape, and Lily could see him for the first time out of the corner of her eye. He looked the same as ever: tall, thin, pale, and greasy. And there was a slight smirk on his face.

"What _is_ your obsession with names, Snivellus?" Lily snapped, hating herself a moment later. She was stooping into territory she didn't like.

"Another of Potter's names? My, you have a thing for him and his."

"Oh yes. Darling Potter..." Lily said sarcastically, and as she said it she rolled her eyes, still refusing to look up at Snape. He was at the edge of her table, now, but Lily was sure he wouldn't sit down. After all, how could he? _She_ was a "mudblood," according to him.

"Joined his fan club too, have you?"

Lily couldn't see his face out of the corner of her eye anymore, but if she had been able too, she was sure he would've worn a victorious smirk on it.

"Yes, would you like to buy a t-shirt?"

"No. I'm not the one madly in love with him...'

"No t-shirt? Well, then, how about some shampoo..."

"Even using his insults."

"If you paid more attention to said insults, maybe you'd wash your hair once in a while." Lily hated herself more and more every moment. She hated this. He was right about one thing: she was using Potter's insults, which made her no better than he was (in reference to Snape, anyway).

"I can practically _see_ you morphing into Potter as we speak... _Red_..." hissed the other.

Lily finally looked up, and met Severus Snape's cold, dark, and seemingly endless eyes. He stood directly across from her, next to the chair that Eden had formerly occupied. Madame Pince had taken no notice of Snape, and it was no surprise. The Librarian liked him. His voice was quiet.

"As much as I appreciate the great sacrifice you must be undergoing so as to speak to me, Severus, I'd much rather you turned around and left, before I decide to perform a civil service and kill you."

"Your voice is beginning to sound like Potter's too..." he said, but he did not have the victorious smirk on his face that Lily had expected.

Finally it hit her what to do. "Well if you're not going away, then you can come over here and help me with the Potions assignment. I'm not entirely sure I know how to answer number nine."

Snape looked a little surprised. Actually, he looked very surprised. "I'd rather not come within a yard of you and your blood, Evans." He looked as if he was about to leave.

'_I'd rather you not too,_' Lily thought, though she restrained herself from saying it.

"Potter, I'm sure, would..." Snape added, as parting words.

Lily snapped. "Potter is nothing more than the Head Boy, with whom, as Head Girl, I am forced to work with more than is entirely pleasurable. Unless you want to wake up tomorrow to find yourself having died and burning in hell, I suggest you leave it at that, and don't speak to me again."

Now the look of victory, so long in coming, played on Snape's thin lips, as he turned and walked away. "Goodbye, Mudblood," came a final hiss. Lily watched his retreating figure, seething, then returned to her homework.

"My blood isn't nearly as dirty as _your_ hair," she muttered.

Snape always made her mad like that.

Like Potter did.

Lily didn't hate Snape, though. Not really. In a way she felt sorry for him, whether she admitted it outwardly or not. She didn't like the way the Marauders taunted him, anyway, and she hated how he sometimes drove her to the same (if she was worked up enough at the get-go). Alice and she seemed to be the only two on the planet who ever voiced annoyance at the treatment of Snape- or at least, the only two non-Slytherins. But even in his own house, Severus Snape wasn't very popular.

Lexi never voiced opinions on the Marauder-Snape interaction, but Lily was somewhat sure she held an at least partially negative one.

How exactly Eden felt on the matter... well... the jury was still out. Some cuts didn't heal, or if they did, they took much longer than seven years.

It was probably the Marauders that were the reason Lily didn't hate Snape, even after his incessant picking on her. He made her angry, sure, but she didn't hate him. In fact, he could probably make her angrier quicker than anyone else, except Petunia maybe. And Potter

But those two made her angrier.

Especially Potter.

Maybe it was because Snape was a greasy, unpopular Slytherin- inept in Quidditch and completely lacking social skills, though fully loaded with insults for all the muggleborns- especially Lily. James, meanwhile, was good-looking, extremely well liked, athletic, intelligent (brilliant sometimes), and a Gryffindor, who seemed to know the basic ideas of morality (right and wrong, anyway), but mostly (_mostly_) ignored the lattermost and was completely egotistical and mean anyway.

It was one thing to be a bastard when you were as lacking as Snape was; it was quite another to be one when you had everything going for you.

James and Snape hated eachother. Actually, Snape hated all the Marauders, as they hated him. Actually, Snape hated all _Gryffindors_, as they hated him.

Except Lily.

Once upon a time, Lily hadn't even disliked Snape to the degree she did now. She'd _truly_ pitied him then- the way he was inexplicably unpopular; the way the Marauders would make fun of him at any given opportunity; the way he only ever really stood out in Defense Against the Dark Arts (Potions to a degree, only Lily had always metaphorically taken the front seat in that class); the way he was generally picked on; and the way he wasn't good-looking, or talkative. Lily didn't really understand being 'unpopular' and she admitted it. She'd always been well-liked, and even with effort, she couldn't change that.

Sometimes she did try. She was the first to stand up to the Marauders, but people only liked her the more (though it didn't stop them from liking the Marauders simultaneously). She got good grades, which meant people should've hated her for being 'prissy.' But they didn't see it that way. She was incurably sarcastic, and her humor above most of the general population, but people laughed anyway.

It didn't make sense.

Snape didn't really _do_ anything wrong- not in the beginning anyway. People just didn't seem to like him, did they? Maybe that was Sirius and James's fault.

"Hey, Red," came James's semi-quiet voice, from a few feet behind Lily's library table. She sighed and looked out the window on her right.

"Wish you wouldn't call me that," she muttered, thoroughly annoyed with him in general.

"Keep wishin'," James replied, coming into view and then sliding into the seat across from her.

"Can I help you?" she asked coldly.

"Do I need an excuse to talk to the Head Girl?"

"Yes."

"Well then I'm glad I came prepared for bitchiness."

"This is what you call: 'getting off on the wrong foot.'"

James rolled his eyes. "Okay, here's the thing. I can't exactly come to a Head meeting tomorr... DON'T SHOUT!" James put his hand up to halt any loud words, which looked ready to project from Lily's now open mouth. "Don't shout," James repeated; "Madame Pince is bound to kill you, and anyway- I've got it all sorted out. Okay? See Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow after classes, so that could go till who knows how late."

"Potter!" hissed Lily.

James raised his hand over Lily's mouth again, to stop protests. "Nuh-uh. Listen. So obviously, that would impede with the Head meeting..."

"Potter!"

"Don't interrupt, Red."

"Don't call me Red!"

"Right. So I was thinking we could do the Head meeting _tonight_ instead... okay?"

Lily thought for a moment. "Okay I guess… oh wait. Nope. Can't tonight."

"What? got a hot date with a tree?" asked James wryly.

"I believe it was _your_ fault that Johnny didn't show up that time, _Potter_," Lily retorted, "and no, it's not a date I have tonight. I've got Spanish."

James paused. "Spanish?" he asked, completely thrown off by this bit of information.

"Yes, Potter. It's a _language_..."

"I _know_ what it is, _Red_, but I didn't know they taught that here."

"I take lessons with Professor Avelar."

"The Ancient Runes pool-boy?"

Lily rolled her eyes and returned to her Potions homework. "But seriously," James said, looking half-amused; "you speak Spanish?"

"Ningún comentario."

"Er... see I have no idea what you just said."

"Sé."

"Wait... so you _do_ speak Spanish?"

"Podría decir le que, pero entonces me tuviera que matarle."

"Riiight. Okay. Funny, Evans. Now stop it with the Spanish. Is there anyway you can skip the lessons with Avelar?"

"Absolutamente no."

"I'm guessing that's negative. Well I can't reschedule tryouts. We've got to start practicing on Saturday, because Slytherin starts _next_ Saturday..."

"No puedo cambiar la hora."

"Red, c'mon. No more Spanish!"

"Francés?"

"What? Wait... is that...? oh no..."

"Oui!"

"Red, you're a bitch."

"Ne m'appelez pas cela!"

"I hate French. Any other hidden languages, while you're at it?"

"Deutsch."

"'Deutsch?' is that... Dutch?"

"Nein."

"Oh, German then. I knew that, by the way."

Lily chuckled quietly. "Ich annulliere nicht meine Lektionen."

"Where did you learn all these damn languages? Why can't you be normal and speak English? Is it some super-Lily complex?"

"Vermutlich."

James sighed. "Unless you start talking in English pronto, I'm not going to show up for any head meeting. Okay?"

A still-smirking Lily thought about it for a moment. "Listen, I really can't do a meeting tonight, because I have Spanish right after dinner. Do you have any classes first period tomorrow?"

"No, but I've got loads of homework."

"Well can you spare an hour for the damn meeting?"

James sighed. "Probably," he relented grudgingly.

"Fine. Good. Great."

"Where _did_ you learn all those languages?"

"Mum... and others. You'd be surprised how many bilingual teachers have passed through Hogwarts... Avelar's taught me Spanish since second year, Mum's been doing French with me since I was six, Van Helsing taught me German while he was here, and Casus did it last year... so it's been on and off."

"You're weird," commented James, eyebrows raised.

Lily suppressed a grin, and glared down at her homework instead, because it was easier. "Are you done with the interrogation? Doesn't matter, 'cos I'm done answering."

"Ya I'm done. See you 'round, Red."

And with that, he stood up and strutted out of the library. Lily glared over her shoulder at him. "Don't call me 'Red,'" she whispered after him.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"_You _are the worst head boy in the history of head boys," laughed Sirius.

"Shut up, Padfoot," replied James over his shoulder, before he continued in his task of searching through his rather messy trunk.

"You know, I reckon they might take that badge away," Sirius continued lazily, as he himself sat on his bed, shooting fireworks out of the end of his wand for no reason.

"Will you stop that!" shouted several voices at once. Sirius looked around, and saw that Remus, Paul Montreal, and Frank Longbottom were all glaring out of their four-poster beds at him.

"I happen to _like_ fireworks," Sirius said coolly, but he set his wand down anyway. The three other seventh year males returned to their sleep, glad that they had the morning off at least until second period.

"Found it!" shouted James.

"Shut up!" came the others.

"You shut up," retorted James lamely, as he practically skipped ("practically" meaning, that he did not, in fact, skip) over to Sirius, and lay a bit of blank parchment on the trunk in front of Sirius's bed.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good!" whispered the Head Boy, tapping his wand on the parchment as he said it.

"I think it's ironic that you have to say _that_ particular sentence, in order to find your way to a Head meeting, which you are _late_ for, during which you will undoubtedly discuss responsibility, and how much your job requires. Ironic."

"How long have you been waiting to tell me I'm a terrible Head Boy?"

"Two weeks."

"You did decent, but work on the inflection."

"Gotcha."

James and Sirius looked down at the parchment again, but it was no long blank. Instead, many lines of black ink had branched out perfectly, to form a map. At the top of the parchment was the introduction of the "Marauders' Map," as it was so aptly called.

"What exactly is this room called?" Sirius whispered, keen not to wake any non-Marauders in the room. "The Head Room?" He chuckled at his own joke, but James glared.

"C'mon. This is serious."

"No, _I'm _Sirius."

"That joke was never funny, Padfoot."

"Yet everyone always laughs."

"They laugh because they feel sorry for me."

"Maybe, but they laugh."

"Did I just laugh?"

"You're laughing inside."

"I thought I was crying inside."

"No, that's Moony."

"You're weird."

"True."

"Ugh. Okay. Evans said it was in the East Tower."

"Why don't they just have it in the staff room? I know where _that _is."

"Because they're morons, Padfoot. Now look for this damned East Tower."

"I believe you're scared of Evans," said Sirius quietly, grinning; his eyes scanned the map for said location.

"Am not. Keep looking."

"Are too, and I _am_ looking. Oi- see- there it is." Sirius's long pointer finger fell on a circular room that bore the banner "East Tower Room."

"Imaginative name, isn't it?" James remarked wryly.

"Mmmm... but why isn't Evans there?" James took a second look at the room, and saw that Sirius was right. According to the Marauders' Map (and the map _never_ lied), the East Tower Room was empty.

"Look for Evans," James ordered, scanning all the corridors himself, looking for the little name of "Lily Evans" which would tell him where the Head Girl was.

They looked over the map carefully for about thirty seconds. "There she is!" muttered James finally.

"Coming from the kitchens?" Sirius muttered thoughtfully, for he saw that the little black dot that represented Lily Evans was, in fact, emerging from the Kitchens on the fourth floor.

"She must be late too," James speculated aimlessly.

"Hey, Prongs," replied Sirius, a grin coming over his face. "We know a passage that will get you to the second floor corridor in about thirty seconds...

"And from there to the East Tower in another ten," James finished, grinning himself. "See ya later."

With that, James darted out of the dormitory, down the winding stair to the Common Room, and out of the Gryffindor tower. He hurried down the corridor, and a moment later came to the silk tapestry that he knew quite well. He ducked behind it, and pushed at the apparent stonewall before him.

But suddenly, the wall disappeared, and a long, dark tunnel came to view. James wasted no time in sprinting the entire length of the rather steep tunnel, and after a little while, he came to a sudden halt at the sign of another wall. As before, James applied only a slight bit of pressure, and it disappeared, to reveal a lot of red.

Another red silk tapestry was there, and James, listening first to make sure no one was around, pushed it away, to find himself on the second floor. He had only to walk across the width of the corridor, open a wooden door there, and hurry up the flight of stairs. When he finally pushed open the trapdoor that opened into the East tower, he luckily found it empty.

The room was small and circular, as James had seen it on the map. In the center was a rectangular table, with two chairs on each end. There was a fire in the fireplace, and a stack of papers nearby. James was reminded of the Tower of London. It was all very grim, and he thought he might very well be facing decapitation.

He sat on the chair to his left upon entering, and rested his legs on the wooden table, thinking of what he would do when Lily came. She arrived after about two minutes, a mug of coffee in hand.

"You're here," she observed, with something in her face that might have been surprise.

"Mhm. And so are you... _finally_."

"Sorry if I've kept you," remarked Lily, not really sounding like she was, as she sat down across from James and sipped her coffee.

"You should be," said James, pretending to fume. "I've been here for..." he checked his watch- "half an hour. Didn't you say we were going to meet at nine? But _what_ time is it? 9:34! Half an hour and four damn minutes late!"

Lily raised her eyebrows coolly, but showed no sign of hurt or remorse. "That's funny... because before I left..." she checked her watch as well... "eleven minutes ago to get some coffee, you weren't here. How do you fancy that?"

"I dunno," shrugged James, grinning in spite of himself. "Dark magic, I suppose."

Lily rolled her eyes. "No doubt."

The Head Boy sighed. "How long do we have to be here?"

"McGonagall's coming at ten to either collect our remains, or dismiss us."

"Brilliant! Next time we should come at ten till...she'll never know the difference."

"Unfortunately she will. She came by at nine o'clock to make sure we were here."

"Shit. I'm in detention, aren't I?"

"Probably, but not for that. I told her you were in the bathroom."

"That's decent of you."

"Damn strait."

They looked each other in the eye for a moment, but Lily broke contact first, and James followed, running a hand through his jet-black hair, and annoying the Head Girl slightly. "Erm... so... what do we do?" he asked presently.

Lily pointed vaguely to the stack of paper next to the fireplace, and rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. James observed dark circles under her eyes, and suspected he hadn't slept well the night before.

"We get to burn the paper?" James asked hopefully.

"Only after we've gone through it."

"Merlin, do we have to go through all of it today?"

"I dunno."

James got up to inspect, but Lily watched from her chair. He picked up the first slip of parchment and read the heading aloud: "Hogwarts' Quidditch Tournament Schedule."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "That can be your department," she said. "And no, you can't schedule Gryffindor against Hufflepuff more than once."

"I know, I know. I'm not a _complete _moron."

"I see. Just a semi-moron."

"Precisely. Lookey, here..." James picked up a second slip of parchment, and read: "'Hogsmeade Schedule.' But it says 'canceled' across the front. Apparently no Hogsmeade this year."

Lily swore.

"Mmm..."

James set the two slips of parchment down in separate piles, then picked up the next one. "This is the prefect schedule. You can do that one, Red." He folded the parchment up into a paper airplane, and tossed it across the room, where it glided lamely for a moment, then crashed on the floor four feet away from Lily.

"You really do suck," she pointed out, getting up and retrieving the Prefect schedule. And don't call me 'Red.' And what the hell is this? _You_ get to do Quidditch, and I schedule Prefect patrols?"

"Hey, you were the one who wanted me to do the Quidditch matches. But here, I'll let you make up the list of suggested detentions."

He flew a second paper airplane to Lily, and this one was more successful. "Oh, fun! I'd always thought it would be a good idea for detention if they made people clean the bathrooms."

"Merlin, Woman. You're evil. I may actually stay out of trouble this year, if you're going to be coming up with detention ideas like _that!_"

"I doubt that," replied Lily wryly. "The staying out of trouble, I mean."

"Me too. Okay, do you want to be responsible for posting bulletin board notices, or do you want me to be?"

"Boring. You do it."

"Thanks Red."

"Don't call me 'Red.'"

"Oh funness: a Quidditch pitch rotation schedule. D'you wanna do that?"

"I'd better. You'd likely schedule Gryffindor for practice every evening, so that Slytherin could never get it."

"True. But as Harrighagen said..."

"Who?"

"Harrighagen? He was a Quidditch player- a seeker- who lived..."

"Six bzillion years ago in some foreign country," finished Lily.

James cocked his head, bewildered. "You just finished my sentence, Red. In my words. That's weird. How'd you...?"

Lily wasn't listening.

'_Because in Quidditch, there's a certain strategy that we followed... It's called the Harrighagen strategy... developed by some Quidditch player- a seeker- who lived six bzillion years ago in some foreign country... what are you talking about?... fly, and fly fast... it's poetic... it's Quidditch.'_

Words and memories suddenly flooded Lily, and she gasped for breadth, clutching her now violently aching forehead.

"What's the matter, Red?" asked James, coming over to the table.

"'_Harrighagen_,'" she whispered; "Do you remember in the forest... telling me about the Harrighagen strategy? 'Fly... and fly fast...'"

James started. "N-no..."

"Well you did," said Lily stoutly. "You did, because I just remembered it now. I didn't remember it before, so I didn't recognize the name at first. But you were using the same terminology I guess and... I just remembered it. I remember Harrighagen."

"Then it _is_ possible to remember what was modified," James mused, stunned.

"But we don't know how to trigger it," sighed Lily. "Should we go to Dumbledore?"

James hesitated. "I don't think so. I doubt there's much he could do anyway."

Lily nodded. And then suddenly she was very anger. "Damn it all," she muttered vehemently. James retreated and sat down on the ground next to the paper.

"Damn what all?"

"This. I hate it. I hate not knowing what's going on."

"What are you talking about, Red?"

"Don't call me that. I don't _know_ what I'm talking about," cried Lily, throwing her hands up in aggravation; "but neither do you- neither does anybody. All we know, is that Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts for apparently no reason other than something to do on a Sunday night. No one's dead, a couple people are injured, but mostly we're just supposed to pretend everything is normal, and that's all we _can_ do, because we can't even remember what the hell happened."

Lily laid her angry face in her arms, which now rested on the table. James sighed. "Sad thing is, you're right. We don't know why they attacked, or why they left, why don't they want casualties? We don't have a damn clue why they didn't just infiltrate..." James stopped. He did not speak for a full minute, so Lily looked up.

He had gotten to his feet, and was pacing the room, running a hand violently through his hair, a look of crazed brilliance on his handsome face.

"What goes on?" Lily asked, almost fearfully. He did not reply at first. "Hey, Potter! What's the matter? What's going on?"

"_'We'll be leaving soon..._'" James murmured, and Lily was pretty sure he wasn't speaking to her, but to himself.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"'_Or most of us will_...'" he finished.

"Oh that makes it all clear," said Lily sarcastically. "Potter. Explain. Pronto."

James suddenly wheeled around and looked the Head Girl in the face, his hazel eyes lit by the fireplace and by some other excitement. For about two seconds, Lily was terrified, then she was just confused. "James...?" she began slowly.

"Do you remember what they said in the forest- the death eater. 'We'll be leaving soon, or most of us will...' Do you remember that?"

"Um... right… yah, I remember. The other guy said something about casualties, then, didn't he?"

"Yeah..." said James slowly, and he began to pace again. "But I don't think that's it..."

"W-w-w-wait..." interrupted Lily, comprehension dawning on her; "you're saying that there are some death eaters left behind.

James nodded almost unnoticeably.

"To what purpose, though?" Lily asked, "Just to have death eaters at Hogwarts?"

"Sure, why not," shrugged James, as he faced Lily once more. "To have death eaters close to Dumbledore... to strike Hogwarts when Voldemort is ready."

"Where would they be hiding? In the forest?"

"Why not? We've had our memories properly modified, and no one else knows where they are in the forest. They could've put an unplottable spell or whatever it's called on it..."

"So you can't find it, unless you know where it is."

"Right, and we were the only ones who knew where it was."

"And we can't remember a damn thing."

"Déjà vu all over again."

Both Heads sighed and retreated to their respective chairs, where they leaned back and stared anywhere but at each other. The silence was somewhat lethal to Lily's health, she decided, so she tried to think of something to say.

"Now, we can't be sure of _any_ of this," she reminded him.

"No shit."

"But how did you come up with a theory like that?"

"Infiltrate."

"Huh?"

"I said 'infiltrate' and that made me think of death eaters taking over Hogwarts, and that made me think of what they said about taking over Hogwarts, and that made me think of..."

"Sorry I asked."

James almost grinned (_almost_) and leaned farther back on his chair, resting his legs on the table.

"We should do _some_ of the work that McGonagall assigned," said Lily regretfully, glancing over at the stack of papers again.

James shrugged and asked hopefully: "Can we not, and say we did?"

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

Remus Lupin was a werewolf.

Since the age of six, due to circumstances unclear to the unfortunate teen, Remus had been plagued by the monthly haunting of the monster that was simultaneously a stranger and Remus himself. For the past two years, however, Remus's lunar experiences had changed. Drastically.

Thirty-three people on Earth knew about Remus's "condition" (in relation to him, anyway), and twenty of those actually knew Remus. Three of _those_ were the other Marauders. In fact, it was James, Sirius, and Peter that were the reason for the drastic change... _improvement..._ in Remus's problem.

September's full moon came in the second week of the month. Remus, who was feeling particularly ill, left halfway through classes the day before (Thursday) and spent most of the day aching in the infirmary. James, Sirius, and Peter made the excuse for him that he merely had "the flu."

Nobody was really shocked, because as far as they were concerned, he got sick a lot. If it wasn't _him _in the infirmary, it was his mother who was dying, his great-aunt's funeral, or the birthday of his cousin in Saint Mungo's. As far as most of Hogwarts knew, Remus had a very sickly family.

"Give my regards to Remus," said a sixth year Ravenclaw girl, smiling flirtatiously at Sirius, as they walked to fourth period, just after lunch.

"I will," replied Sirius, watching the girl walk away, a bit of a grin on his face.

James rolled his eyes. "Enjoying the view, Padfoot?"

"Mhm."

"C'mon- pay attention," James said, hitting his best friend on the shoulder. "Look: here's the plan. I think we should explore the forest tonight."

"The forest?" groaned Peter, who was also with them. "No, no. We did that so much year before last... and twice last year. No, I want to go into Hogsmeade."

"I agree," said Sirius thoughtfully; "we've done the forest a lot."

James mentally slapped his friends. He had a very particular reason to want to do the forest, but he couldn't tell it to Sirius. Peter might have guessed the reason, but what was for James a reason to explore, was for Peter a reason to stay away. "C'mon... I... er... miss the forest! Please? It reminds me of the good ol' fifth year days."

"Meh. We were berks in fifth year. I like me better now," Sirius shrugged, cracking his knuckles idly.

"Me too," agreed Peter happily. "I've grown two inches since the beginning of last year, by the way."

"Bravo," James muttered wryly; "I reckon that breaks five foot for you, doesn't it?"

"Five seven, for your information," Peter commented bitterly.

"Five seven, eh? Wow, you're practically a giant, Worms."

"I feel so short next to you," laughed Sirius.

"Alright, alright," snapped Peter. "What are we doing tonight, then? Hogsmeade?"

"Not _what_ Peter... _who..."_

"Mind out of the gutter, Padfoot," smirked James.

Sirius grinned.

"C'mon... can't we go into the forest?" James's tone changed to a whine.

"Hogsmeade, Prongs," pleaded Sirius.

"Ya, Prongs. _Hogsmeade!_ Can't we?"

James sighed. There was nothing to be done about it. He hadn't even really wanted to go on the full moon expedition tonight, but had agreed to with the hope of exploring the forest. His modified memory was still a constant source of irritation for him, and what he wanted most of all was to be able to jog something in his head- just by being in the forest.

"Alright," he finally agreed. He would have to try again next month, if he wanted to get into the forest with the others.

"Excellent," said Sirius, grinning now. "Let's be ready to go at nine. Agreed?"

"Agreed," chorused the other two, one sounding distinctly downcast.

"Excellent," repeated Sirius.

They were, in fact, ready to leave at five thirty, for they ate quickly in anticipation of the evening (Sirius and Peter did at least- James always ate quickly). However, it was still light out by that time, and Remus wouldn't have left the castle yet. The three Marauders, dreading the three and a half hours of waiting, moped up to the Gryffindor tower to kill some time.

It was almost completely empty. The only two people there were Eden Dearborn and Paul Montreal (the only non-Marauder 7th year Gryffindor male, besides Frank), who were sitting a safe distance apart, talking about Quidditch. Paul looked up when he saw the three Marauders enter the common room.

"Hey, Potter, Black, Peter... how's Lupin doing? Still sick?"

"Mmm... nasty flu," replied James, for Sirius had retreated to a seat by the fire, looking defiant and refusing to glance anywhere near where Paul and Eden were sitting.

"You haven't seen Frank around, have you?" Paul pressed hopefully.

"He was at dinner with Lexi," shrugged Peter, also collapsing onto the couch, next to Sirius.

Paul's features darkened slightly. "Of course," he muttered. "Um... I'll see ya later. Quidditch tryouts tomorrow, right, Potter?"

"I dunno, Twenty-Two," said James seriously; "you might not dare tryout for Keeper again this year. The competition'll be rougher than last year. You might not be able to keep the position, and I heard some second year's are trying out for that position too."

"Right... after six years and three thousand nine hundred twenty one saves, you won't keep me on your Quidditch team. You'll be screwed, Potter."

James grinned. "Ya never know."

"Riiight. See you later."

He raised a hand for farewell and exited the Common Room through the portrait hole. James deliberated for a moment on whether to go sit next to Sirius and Peter, or to have a word with Eden, who was sitting aimlessly in a corner, flipping through an upside-down book.

Sirius sent him a look that clearly told him that he had no choice but to join the fellow Marauders. This seemed to James to be awfully like a challenge to go sit with Eden. Which he did.

"Hey, E," he said, sitting across from her, in the chair that had formerly been occupied by Paul.

"Hey, you gonna ditch me for Lexi too?" Eden asked, grinning and abandoning the pretense of the book.

"Ditch you for Lexi?" James enquired, bewildered. "You don't mean... nah... he doesn't... Twenty-two?"

Eden rolled her eyes. "The male sex is blind. Never mind. What's up? Why aren't you at dinner?"

"Finished. You?"

"Not hungry. I'm gonna go running later, so I might drop by the kitchens after that. Join me?"

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"Remus... remember?"

"Ah, of course," Eden said knowingly; "you're going then? I mean, even after... last year and all that?"

James shrugged. "I'm pretty damn sure Sirius wont be pulling another stunt like that."

"Oh I'm sure Sirius will keep his mouth shut," Eden said, rolling her eyes. "But what about Snape?"

Snape.

That was a problem.

"We'll just have to suck it up and hope for the best."

"Or you could not go," Eden suggested, a bit of a smirk playing on her lips. James grinned.

"Are you trying to make me look like a prat in front of the others?" he asked, half joking. "They already think I've grown accustomed to rules because of my recent... affliction."

"You mean the Head Boy-ship?"

"Mhm."

Eden grinned too. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that," she said, twirling a lock of escaped blonde-ness around her ring finger. "You haven't been too hard on Lily, have you?"

"Me? No."

"Well then I don't know what's the matter with her."

"What do you mean?" James was thoroughly bewildered. He hadn't noticed anything strange about the Head Girl.

"Well... I don't know. She just hasn't been herself. Very thoughtful all of a sudden, and just... weird. Y'know? Is that you?"

James suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "E, you know the only sort of reaction I ever get out of Lily is one of... throwing things. I haven't been seducing her in private or anything..." he winked.

"Do you still like her?" asked Eden, smirking again, and staring into James's hazel eyes, so that he couldn't lie.

"Still? Never did."

Eden raised a thin, dark blonde eyebrow. "Riiight... so you permit all the girls you 'don't like' to pour pumpkin juice on your head and compare you to the giant squid?"

"Hey, any strait male would be a little crazy not to think she's good looking enough to ask out. She's hot, I'll grant you. But that's the limit of it. She's a bitch… No offense."

"None taken." Eden had a wry expression on her face.

"Hey, James," called Sirius from by the fire, "Come here. I wanna talk to you."

James cast a wary look at Eden, who shrugged. "You can go," she said, failing at nonchalance.

"No, I'm not," James replied firmly. Eden looked confused. "You are," he added.

She rolled her blue eyes. "Nuh-uh, James," she said, getting to her feet and trying to make for the dormitories.

"C'mon. Five minutes of reconciliation is all I ask."

"_James!_" whined Eden.

"E," said the Head Boy, in an authoritative voice. "C'mon. For me?"

"No!"

"You're supposed to do whatever I say if I say 'for me!'" James accused.

"Ya right, Potter."

"I feel so loved."

"You should."

"'C'mon!" James pulled at Eden's wrist and brought her over to the couch where Sirius sat. He started and began to get up. "Sit," commanded James. Sirius complied, bewildered.

"What's...?"

"You two are reconciling," James informed them. He guided (somewhat forcefully) Eden to the chair across from the couch on which Sirius sat.

"Sorry," she said sourly to Sirius, "now can I go?" She looked hopefully up at James.

"No. Sit there, and claw each other's eyes out. Pete... c'mon." He nudged Peter's shoulder, and the smirking Marauder scrambled off the couch to where James was walking haughtily out of the Common Room. When they'd disappeared into the boys' dormitories, the two others glared at eachother.

Presently, Eden looked away and said mockingly: "You first."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

Slowly, sadly, but only slightly regretfully, Lily drifted down the seventh floor corridor, towards the narrow staircase that led to the sixth floor. She was doing the brave thing, or at least, the proper thing. That was what she was trying to convince herself anyway, and so far it was working well. Slow, sad, and regretful, but not guilty yet.

Dumbledore had said it himself: she and Potter were supposed to get along.

How could she and Potter get along?

Lily forcefully pushed the fact that she and Potter _had_ gotten along fine at the Head meeting out of her head. Unimportant details.

"Hey Lily," said Rian Orlando, the Ravenclaw prefect, as he passed Lily in the corridor.

"Hi, Rian," replied Lily automatically, not really hearing herself.

"Erm... haven't seen Eden around, have you?"

Lily raised an eyebrow, on alert now. "Why do you ask?"

"Wanted to ask her something," shrugged Rian, though Lily was pretty sure he was lying. She gave him a look that clearly told him so.

"You two going out?" she demanded, hands on her hips.

"No," replied Rian disheartened, "though it's not for lack of trying."

"Haven't seen her," said Lily, believing him a little.

"Er... alright. Bye then."

Rian hurried down the opposite way, and Lily continued on her own. At least speculating on Rian Orlando would take her mind off the task at hand. She didn't mind him (Rian), she decided. He was good-looking and intelligent, and an excellent Keeper on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. But he spelled his name oddly. Why couldn't he just spell "Ryan" with a 'y' like normal people did? It was one thing to have a weird name, and it was another to have a normal one and try to make it weird.

Much to her annoyance, with that final thought, Lily found herself on the sixth floor, and standing before the oh-so-familiar statue of a griffin. There would be no guessing games this time, however. She had (and she was beginning to regret it) already requested the password from Professor Slughorn, and, of course, received it. Slughorn was very relenting.

"Chocolate Frogs?" said Lily tentatively.

The griffin revolved, and, as before, revealed its hidden staircase in a matter of seconds. Lily climbed the stairwell and knocked on the door. This time, the respond was instantaneous.

"Come in."

Lily opened the door and looked into Dumbledore's office. She was surprised to see that the Headmaster was not alone, however. Sitting in the chair across from him (the two chairs that Lily and James had frequently used in the last weeks had finally been replaced) was the vaguely familiar Ministry worker from the train.

Lily automatically tried to place a name with the face, which was looking over his cloaked shoulder at the Head Girl as she entered.

"Come in, Lily," repeated Dumbledore. "I was just finishing up with Mr. Korcesh."

Korcesh. Right. Apparently he had returned to Hogwarts; perhaps his job stretched beyond inspecting trains.

Mr. Korcesh got to his feet at least as awkwardly as Lily came further into the room. He bowed slightly to Lily, before returning his stare to Dumbledore again. "Well then you understand," he said, with another wary glance at Lily.

"Not entirely, but I will permit it," Dumbledore replied coolly.

Mr. Korcesh may or may not have smirked slightly, but Lily was inclined to think he had, though she could only see a small part of his face at the moment. "Well then... we'll see each other again soon, Dumbledore."

He bowed in a similar fashion to the bearded man, who was still seated, and then again to Lily, before walking out of the room. His posture was unusually strait and proud, and made Lily want to laugh, but she didn't. She wasn't a _complete_ idiot.

"Did you want something, Lily?" asked Dumbledore benignly. The redhead started and made her way over to the chair that Korcesh had been seated in.

"Erm... may I?"

"Of course."

Lily sat down, sucked in once, and got ready to spit it out. "Professor, I've been thinking about what you said the other day, to Potter and me. You're right of course; I mean, the Head Boy and Girl positions are really important this year- not that they aren't usually, it's just that they... aren't... usually. B-b-but, the thing is, I don't really think I'm up to it. I... well... I was wondering if I could resign..."

To Lily's great surprise, Dumbledore let out a soft chuckle, and rubbed his massive silver beard. He did not look shocked, or annoyed, or anything of the kind. He appeared to be merely amused.

"I'm sorry, did I...?" she began, but the headmaster interrupted.

"I must admit: I'd rather hoped you wouldn't be coming."

"Excuse me?"

"I'd hoped you wouldn't come and ask to resign. It had been nearly two weeks, and you seemed to be doing well enough. But, alas, I cannot say I am taken completely by surprise."

"Professor, I don't understan..."

"Your resignation, Lily," explained Dumbledore kindly; "After the first two weeks, I thought you would have submitted to the fact of your Head Girl-ship. Originally, of course, I thought you would come to me immediately upon your arrival at Hogwarts, but, due to obvious circumstances, you didn't. Thank-you, for that, I must say. You spared my nerves a great deal in waiting till the dust had settled a little. Congratulations, on that account."

"Er... thank you?"

"You're welcome. And, for what very little it may be worth, Mr. Potter came to me a week before you did."

If Lily had been bewildered before, she was far beyond it now. "Potter asked to resign too?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes. Apparently the Head Boy did not think himself up to the job either."

"Oh."

"Quite."

"So... does this mean I can't resign?"

Dumbledore sighed and averted his eyes momentarily. Presently, he resumed his blue-eyed stare at Lily, and said: "I would much prefer _not_ to accept your resignation, Lily. I think you would make an excellent Head Girl."

"Thank-you, sir, but if I were to ask to resign, would you deny me?"

Again, Dumbledore seemed somewhat reluctant to reply. "I would not," he said finally. "But I hope that you will not ask me to attempt to find another Head Girl to replace you. I have great faith in your abilities, Lily, and I have great faith that you would be an excellent choice for this position, no matter who your Head Boy is. I ask you to reconsider, and continue at your post."

And what, exactly, was she supposed to say to that?

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

Elijah.

Damn him.

Lily couldn't sleep again.

It was Friday night (or was it Saturday morning?), and very cold in the seventh year Gryffindor girls' dormitories. Her head ached as a result of several things running through her head. At the moment, the primary one was Elijah's name.

Elijah.

Damn him.

Somewhere outside, a wolf howled, and Lily felt a chill run up her spine. Wolves must have been very common at Hogwarts, for she had heard many in her time at the school. She'd spent loads of nights like this over the years- exhausted and annoyed. But never had she had a night _quite_ like this. She never lost sleep over a guy.

Elijah Trent.

In any case, he had finally written back (she received his owl that morning at breakfast). It had been a long, sweet, comforting letter, but not a helpful one. And she was still losing sleep over him.

At least, if she thought about it long enough, and concentrated on things like that wolf's howl, or the crickets outside her window, she could convince herself that it was Elijah keeping her awake.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO 

Long notes for my favorite people:

maraudersrock77- what are you talking about? Lily and Sirius are gonna get together! Duh! Lol- joking. Thanks for the review, and cheers! **(1st person to review Ch. 7!)**

mkiara- oh, I love the LJ banter too: it's so much fun to write! Do you really like the long chapters? I'd be glad to oblige... hope this lives up to expectations. Cheers!

Jami- yes, I baked those cookies especially for you :-P. Glad you enjoy the long chapters, and I love details myself too. Hope you continue on the "Shaken Not Stirred" bandwagon- I love your reviews.

Amanda- thank-you a million times over! Your description of the L/J relationship sounds like what I'm going for! Thanks for the review, and I hope you keep reading!

psychofroth: lol! Awesome name! I liked the start of your story, and left you a review, because reviews are wonderful:-P. Continue writing!

Occhio di Lince- yay! Thanks for reviewing again! I almost couldn't have posted if you didn't (:-P joking). I can't get over how cool your name is. I am SO weird. Some of what was cut of CH.7 is in this chapter, so you wont miss _too_ much...

Ilana Potter- thank-you and thank-you! Glad I could be of service :-D! hope you keep reading and **reviewing**, and I really am glad you like the story.

Teresa Hughes- okay, here's the thing with Lexi. She has this odd speech pattern (i.e. speaks of herself in the third person occasionally, and uses the first person plural all the time in reference to herself). Re: Lexi is one of 3 characters in this story based entirely off a real person. I usually don't like to do that with characters (like them to be purely fictional) but the person that Lexi is based off of is so awesome, and so much like someone you would read in a book anyway, that I couldn't resist. No, she's not a house-elf in disguise... she just looks, dresses, acts, and speaks like the greatest Ninja-Tutor in the world :-P. it's too insane to explain. Thanks for reviewing. Sorry for the long chap...

GaryLovesPickles: lol! You are so insanely random! xoxoxoxoxo! Hey, no granola for me?

**Wanted:** a really, _really_ good HP story. We're talking the absolute best you can think of. Preferably, I want a canon **L/J or H/G** story, and it can either be purely a **'shipping** story, or it can have a **plot**. It's not that I don't like other 'ships, or that I don't like AU, it's just I really want to read some good ones of those particular varieties. Don't care if it's **one-shot**, or **work-in-progress**. Rating doesn't matter, either. And it **MUST NOT have Mary-Sues** of any variety. Review with your **suggestions**...

There's a website in my profile of HP fanart, that I think you should check out, if you haven't already seen it. It's gorgeous!

Cheers,

-Jewels-


	9. High Spirits

_Origins of the Recipe_: this is, in fact, the DISCLAIMER. Meaning, it states that I do not own the rights to anything. You're very lucky for that.

_Note from the cook:_ reviews are lovely. Feel free to leave me one, even if you're just starting to read this here thang. Rissa, I hate you. :-P

_Recap from Last Time:_ Lily thinks about Elijah (her graduated boyfriend), argues with Snape and James, talks about **Quidditch**, and wants to resign from Head Girl, but is advised against it by Dumbledore. James tries to convince the other Marauders to go into the forest with him at the full moon, but they out-vote him, and they go to Hogsmeade instead. Eden and Sirius presumably are reconciled for "differences of opinion" from the previous year concerning Remus.

**Chapter 9- High Spirits**

"_Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional." –Anonymous_

"Where's Lex?"

"Montreal... shut up. If you... lose count... I'm gonna... kill you."

"Okay, okay. You're on nineteen."

"I'm... on... twenty-one."

"Right. That's what I meant."

"Ugh, James! Will you... keep... count... for me?"

"Don't talk to him, E; he's pacing. That means he'll kill you if you interrupt him."

"Speaking from experience, Sirius?"

"You have no idea."

"Lexi's late..."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"It's fine, Frank. She'll... be... here. Why'd you... stop... counting, Paul?"

"Twenty-four, twenty-five..."

"I'm... on... twenty-nine... now I'm on thirty!"

"Right. That's what I meant."

"Damn it! Sirius, keep count for me!"

The locker room was much like it was before all Gryffindor's Quidditch matches. James was pacing near the curtain that led to the pitch, and Sirius was alternating between lifting weights, practicing swings with his beater club, and bantering with Eden. Eden was doing push-ups, and Paul was supposedly keeping count, except he wasn't. Frank was just nervous, and Mackey Simpson was going over the notes that James had given him about his chasing technique.

"We're all going to be fine, you know," James reminded them all.

"Ya, we know, James," said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

"You told us."

"Six times."

"At least."

"Probably closer to seven."

"Or eight."

"Or twenty-three."

"And a half."

James rolled his eyes. "Why did I let you two on the team?"

"'Cos we're the best damn beaters in the school."

"I wonder where Lex is..." Frank was saying.

"She died. I ate her," said Eden, getting up from the ground and picking up her own beaters' club.

"You're such an encouraging force, E."

"Of course I am, I'm blonde."

"What in hell's name does that have to do with anything?" laughed Mackey.

"You're just jealous."

"Why? I'm blonde too."

"_Gasp!_ Does your mother know?"

"E's high," Sirius observed, tossing his club upward and catching it. Eden made a face and lay on the ground again to do some crunches, only she didn't ask Paul to keep count for her, and he didn't volunteer.

"Am... not..." she contradicted. "I'm... just... special!"

"And high."

"Shut up... or I'll... tell Filch on... you."

"And he'll care that I called you 'high' because...?"

"He'll care who replaced his entire stock of coffee with dung beetles..."

"Okay, ya... he'll care about that..."

"Okay," James was now saying to Frank; "so remember. High-Low strategy. You did really, really well on it during the last practice, but you need to make sure you keep good balance. You drifted low after a little while, and you didn't get the quaffle as much."

"Hey, Cap... you don't need to worry about seeking. I hear Rian Orlando pulls Harrighagen," Mackey said, sounding glad.

"Alas, not true," sighed Eden, who was now engaged in a club-duel with Sirius. "I was talking to him the other day, and he was bashing Harrighagen to death."

"You going out with him?" asked James, grinning.

"Who? Harrighagen?"

"Rian Orlando!"

"No, but he's asked me twice. Touché!" She'd stabbed Sirius in the shoulder.

"Ouch!"

"E! Don't kill the other beater!"

"Sorry, James..."

"If I die, E, I'm blaming you."

"Sorry, Sirius."

"Where _is_ Lexi?"

"And we _still_ don't know, Paul."

"Damn, Sirius! That hurt!"

"Sirius, what did you do?"

"He stabbed me in the stomach!"

"Oh great, now _both_ my beaters are out. Lovely."

"How much longer till the game?"

"Twenty minutes."

"Didn't you say to meet up here an hour before the game?"

"Yes, why?"

"Nothing. I just wonder why Lexi's so late."

"She probably fell asleep eating noodles."

"What _are_ you talking about, E?"

"I have no idea."

James challenged Sirius to a push-up contest, and they were thus occupied while Frank and Paul had a rock, paper, scissors tournament, and Mackey and Eden discussed such important things as potatoes.

"By... the... way... Prongs... Who's... judging... this... cont... est...? "

"Er... I dunno... What... number... are... you on?"

"I wasn't... ouch... counting..."

"Me... either..."

"Hurry up, Lex!" said Frank, frustrated with his paper-loss to Paul's scissors.

"Ya, I'm beginning to agree..." said James, getting to his feet.

"Ha! You lost!" cried Sirius victoriously.

"Did not. I won, so I stopped. Now shut up..."

"Damn. You always think of something," murmured Sirius.

Eden got up from where she had sat talking with Mackey about potatoes. "I'll go look for Lexi," she volunteered, shrugging. "I don't know why she's not here yet..."

"Nah, I'll go," said James; "you're liable to see something shiny and get distracted."

"I would not!"

"Yes, you would."

"Okay, maybe."

"I'll be back in a second..."

James darted through the "other" curtain, out of the locker room, which led- not to the Quidditch pitch- but down a rickety staircase to the grassy ground below. Once there, he sprinted, top speed to the castle. In two minutes, he was there, and halfway to the Gryffindor common room. In another minute, he was dashing up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

There, he pulled open his trunk and tore through the contents once more, looking for the Marauders' Map. Once it was located, he pulled out his wand and pointed it the parchment, saying authoritatively: "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good!" As before, the map appeared on the blank parchment a moment later, and James scanned it for the name of "Alexandria Shaw" or anything remotely related.

Most people were down at the match by now, which meant it was not hard to find her. The little black dot labeled with her name was moving slightly faster than usual down the second floor corridor.

James was springing out the door a moment later, the map still in hand. Thanks to the much-trusted secret passageways that James knew so well, he was to the second floor almost instantly. Lexi was jogging down the hallway, a mere speck of red and gold robes and black hair.

"Hey, Lex!" the Quidditch Captain called after his chaser, running even faster than before towards her.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder, then waited a moment for him to catch up. "Where the bleedin' hell have you been?" he demanded, once he was level with her. They walked briskly towards the stair.

"Slughorn asked us to do him a favor and... oh get your mind out of the gutter, Potter... he asked us to transport a potion to Madame Pomfrey about twenty minutes ago, and _then_ she asked us to transport a memorandum from _her, _and thenugh... it's too ridiculous."

"It's fine. But E's going wonky, and we need you to sort her out before the match."

"What do you mean?"

"Just the usual... talking about potatoes and so on."

"What-ho."

"C'mon. let's run, or we'll be late."

They quickened their pace, and were sprinting down the staircase, jumping appropriate steps automatically a moment later. But when they came to the entrance hall, the first sign of danger arrived.

"What are you two doing?"

The two seventh years simultaneously looked over their respective shoulders at Professor Grossman.

"Going to the Quidditch match," replied Lexi, because it was wiser for _her_ to reply. Grossman did not hate her as much as she hated James.

"Why were you running?"

"We're... late."

"There's no running in the corridors."

James was pretty sure that Grossman had just made that rule up, but didn't say so. "Sorry, Professor," he replied, in unison with Lexi.

"Very well... get going, now," said the Herbology teacher reluctantly. James and Lexi turned to leave, when a new voice stopped them.

"Wait!" came the voice of Argus Filch, and James and Lexi were obliged to do as they were told. James was reluctant to turn and face the caretaker, because his bad experiences with him were numerous. "Wait there, you two," continued Filch.

"What seems to be the problem, Argus?" Professor Grossman asked, pleased enough for a reason to delay two students so eager to leave.

"Someone's been in to my office, they have..."

James had a sixth sense as to when he would need to be getting himself out of trouble soon. His back still turned to Grossman and Filch, he slowly and unobtrusively reached into his pocket for his wand so he could disable the Marauders' Map. But there was a slight problem. His wand wasn't in his pocket.

He'd left it in the dormitory.

"Son of a bitch."

"What was that?" screeched Grossman.

"It was... the... um... the... Pitch? We need to get down to the Quidditch Pitch, or Dumbledore will be very displeased." James had turned around to face the teachers, for no doubt they would soon take anything otherwise as a sign of disrespect, but the map was held in his hands behind his back.

It wasn't the first time James had been in a situation like this- where he didn't have the faintest idea of how to get out of trouble, but he did have something on his side at the moment. He had Lexi standing next to him, rather than Sirius. Lexi had a spotless record, and an undeniable reputation for being a genius, if an eccentric one.

"Five points from Gryffindor for your language, Potter," snapped Grossman. James held his breadth, hoping that that would make him unable to retort. He kicked Lexi in the ankle.

"Ouch... er... um... Professor, Caretaker, can we go now? We're going to be late..."

"I don't care! One of you was in my office!" growled Filch.

"No we weren't!" said both Lexi and James at once.

"Yes, yes you were!" insisted Filch, practically trembling, as the ever constant cat at his feet meowed triumphantly.

"But, Sir, we w..."

"There's no one else in the castle!" Filch kept on, and James felt his stomach sink. "They're all out at the match..."

"Well perhaps someone was in your office _before_ they went out to the Match," Lexi threw in. James cast her a grateful look: everything sounded more credible when _she_ said it.

"Argus," said Professor Grossman, and James had the feeling that she wouldn't help the situation any, "what exactly did they _do?_"

"Nothing!" shrieked Lexi. James did not think he had ever seen her so discomposed.

"They..." Filched seemed a little embarrassed to say it... "they meddled. With things..."

"I highly doubt Miss Shaw was involved," Grossman began slowly. Filch looked flustered. James was beginning to get very, very annoyed, and decided it was time to take action, before bad and scary things happened.

"Yes, yes... but Potter..." grumbled Filch.

"Potter, where have you been?" said Grossman.

"We've been over this," snapped James, hoping that what he was doing wasn't too obvious. "I went up to the Gryffindor tower to find Lexi, and she wasn't there, so I went about the castle and looked for her. I found her on the second floor, and we were on our way down here when Professor Grossman here stopped us. That's it. I didn't go to your office."

Filch took a step closer, and looked keenly in James's eyes. The Head Boy tried not to look too defiant, but probably failed miserably.

"I didn't _do_ anything," he insisted, though he had a very good idea who _had_ done something. He was going to_ kill_ Sirius later.

Some people thought of James as a little bit thick (namely, Lily), but he wasn't. In fact, at the moment, he was being rather clever. For one thing, he had managed to obtain a wand. For another thing, he had managed to obtain said wand, by swiping it from Lexi's left pocket, though he stood on her right. For yet another thing, he had managed to whisper so that no one noticed: "mischief managed!" while pointing said wand behind his back at the Marauders' Map, hence wiping it blank. James really wasn't _too_ thick.

However, he did have moments, when he really wasn't _too_ sly, either.

"Potter, what the hell are you doing?" shrieked Lexi, jumping back, for she had noticed James slipping his arm seemingly around her waste. In reality, he had been trying to return her wand to her left pocket. She gave him a bewildered look.

"What is that, Potter?" demanded Grossman, before James could do anything to explain to Lexi.

"What is what?"

"That parchment!"

"Oh this?" James brought the blank map into full view. "That's... nothing. Just some parchment..."

"Why are you bringing it to the Quidditch match?" Filch growled suspiciously.

"I wanted to write some notes to Mackey Simpson about his Chasing technique. You know- ways he can improve and such."

"You and your little friends carry blank parchment around a lot," muttered Filch suspiciously, and James could see why the caretaker would think this. He had caught various Marauders with the wiped Marauders' map on more than one occasion.

"Is that a crime?" he asked defiantly. This was getting ridiculous. He actually _hadn't_ pulled the prank this time (concerning coffee and dung beetles), and he only had a few more minutes to get himself down to the pitch before the Quidditch match started.

"Let me see it!" ordered Filch, holding out his gnarled hand.

Grudgingly, James handed over the parchment.

"Professor," pleaded Lexi to Grossman, "we're going to be late for the match. Can't we please just...?"

"Not until we've got this sorted out," snapped Filch, eyeing the parchment carefully. "Er... would you like to...?" he turned the parchment over to the Herbology teacher.

James and Lexi both rolled their eyes. James knew (through sneaking) and Lexi suspected (through logic) that Filch was a squib. In other words, his parents were witch and wizard, but he himself could not perform a bit of magic. The fact that he had to turn the map over to Grossman for inspecting was further evidence and somewhat amusing, for Filch loved to terrorize the students.

"Of course, Argus." Grossman took the map in her own chubby hands, and looked it over herself. Then, she drew her wand and pointed it at the surface. "Show yourself!" she commanded.

Nothing happened.

James prayed nothing _would_ happen.

Lexi was still eyeing him suspiciously.

"Revealio!"

Nothing.

"Commonstro!"

Nothing.

"Reveal your message!"

Zip.

"Show me your secret!"

Zilch.

"Appear!"

Natta.

Grossman was getting irate, but she refused to give up, as she threw every synonym imaginable at the parchment. James was getting even more annoyed.

"Oh come _on!_" he burst out angrily. "There's nothing the matter with the parchment, okay? Now can we go? There's a Quidditch match!"

"Don't speak to _us_ like that!" ordered Grossman, letting the map go for the present.

"And I want to know who was in my office!" said Filch.

"Oh for Merlin's sake! WE DIDN'T MESS WITH YOUR DAMNED COFFEE!"

James could have shot himself there and then. In fact, he was seriously considering it. So was Lexi. She stared at him, mouth open, and a look of pure stun in her brown eyes.

"How did you know that?" whispered Filch, lethally.

"I... I didn't do it," said James honestly. He really _was_ going to kill Sirius. "I swear it. I only knew it because... I know who _did_ do it..."

"And who was that?" asked Grossman, an ever-growing evil smirk on her face.

"Well um..." He was mad at Sirius, but he couldn't rat him out. "I... y'see I didn't..."

"Come to my office, you two!" said Filch, sounding more gleeful than angry.

"No! Lexi had nothing to do with it... I swear. C'mon..."

Filch looked reluctant to let her go, but relented. "All right. Get along then, and don't expect Potter any time soon..."

James spun around to Lexi. "Okay, Lex. Get Frank's sub- Jamie Watson- out of the stands, and make sure he's suited up as soon as possible." Lexi nodded. "Then tell Frank to play Keeper- he's decent at that. Paul Montreal has to play Seeker, since he's the most versatile player on the team, okay? Hurry! The game starts in five minutes. If I'm not back, you'll have to play like that."

Lexi gave him a glare, and if James hadn't remembered that he had not actually pranked Filch, he would have felt very guilty. She sprinted out of the Entrance Hall, and James turned to Filch and Grossman.

The latter smiled sweetly. "Well, I assume you can take care of him, Argus. I'll be down at the match." She followed Lexi at a much slower pace out of the Entrance Hall, and James was forced to follow Filch up the stairs of the castle.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

There were no sounds of cheering from the grounds, so James could presume that the match was over. That was terrible. HALF AN HOUR? Either Paul Montreal had three times the Seeking skills that James thought he had, or else Gryffindor had lost.

He did not meet anyone on his way from Filch's out-of-the-way office to the Gryffindor Common room, so he could ask no one about the match. He did not remember breathing once the entire way up.

When he finally did get to the Tower, he was reluctant to go in. Couldn't he face his doom later, rather than sooner?

"Fly wings," he muttered to the Fat Lady, by way of password. She swung forward, and James entered the common room. At first, he could not know what had happened. The atmosphere was indefinable, but it was rather noisy. Every Gryffindor seemingly was in there, talking.

They were silent when he entered.

Everyone stared at him for a moment. The first person to speak was Lily Evans, who was sitting on a couch, beside a sweaty Eden.

"Good job, Potter," she muttered venomously.

"I didn't do it," he stated firmly.

"Sure," was all Lily said.

"It was my fault," Paul Montreal said, coming up to James and looking thoroughly disappointed with himself. "I had it at one point, but the bludger got me and I lost sight of it, and Orlando caught it before..."

"It's not your fault, Paul," insisted Lexi, approaching them with Frank. "Sorry, Potter," she added to James. "Eden told me that it wasn't you..."

Not everyone seemed as wise as Lexi, however. Most of the Gryffindors sent him angry glares for his absence at the match, which had apparently lost them the match. Sirius seemed the most apologetic, however.

"Shit, James. I'm sorry. I didn't imagine he'd... well... I'm _so_ sorry, Prongs..."

"Shut up, Padfoot. Never mind. It doesn't matter."

But it did matter, as James could not help but remember as he walked up to bed that evening. The day had not been a friendly one. Unless Ravenclaw lost to Hufflepuff, which was highly unlikely, Gryffindor would be out of the running for the Cup. The day had most definitely _not_ been friendly.

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**

I deserve to be burned at the stake for this terrible filler-chapter. But have no fear, it does have SOME significance on the storyline. And the next chapter is SO packed with storyline significance, that there was no room for some of the little things that I wanted out of the way in it (i.e. Quidditch). I feel SO incredibly guilty about this chapter. SORRY!

Jami- more people should think like you :-P you reviewed, so it's my turn to update! Thrilled that you enjoy the writing, 'cos I enjoy providing it! Thanks for reviewing! apologies for this chapter **(1st!)**

Occhio di Lince- yes! You describe Lily exactly how I want her! No Super!Lily and no I'mSmartSoIHateSports!Lily. I'm an obsessive writer, but I'm also a soccer and basketball addict, and play on varsity teams for both. Lily doesn't play, but she enjoys Quidditch! Ugh. Death the stereotype-fanfiction-Lily! Cheers for the review, and apologies for this chapter.

lilalex13- well... Lily and James may take a _little_ while yet... but don't worry. Lily's first signs of "danger" (as she sees it) are definitely becoming evident. Hence the attempted resigning in Ch. 8. Thanks for leaving me one, hope you enjoy the story, and sorry for this chap!

Maraudersrock77- "Rian" was originally named "Tristan" but I didn't have the heart to punish him _that_ much. LoL. He's not one of my favorites, I have to admit, for some things in future chapters, but he does have a fun name. Unfortunatley, this chapter isn't as long or as good as the others, but the next chapter... well... that has potential to be _quite_ long, and will probably require some cutting. :-P thanks for reviewing

Sango-Inu-Yasha-Lover- thank you much, and I hope you keep reading. Cheers.

Immortaleyes: am I done? No, far from it (unfortunately for you, my victims! Bwahaha!) I hope you get this far, and continue onwards. Thanks for reviewing and for putting me on your list. _Gives cookies. _if you get this far, forgive me for the filler, and i hope you continue to R&R.

Cheers to Readers

-Jewels-


	10. All Hallows' Eve

_N/C:_ here's your **Plot Special** with a side of cookies. Yeah, this took me _way_ too long to get up, and I apologize. I got at least halfway through, scratched it, and rewrote it no less than six times. One time I even finished a version before I decided it was badly done. But here is the finished product... I've varied a lot from my original story-plan with this chapter, but in a lot of ways, it improves the plot (IMHO). Reviews for my trouble... maybe?

_Origins:_ Rowling receives all rights to this here dingy.

_Recap:_ Jewels "fillered shamelessly" (cheers, Amanda). There was Quidditch, which Gryffindor lost because James was taken out at the last minute. Everyone's mad. The end.

_N/C:_ Saw **GoF** on the 18th! In my opinion, it was really awesome. Go see it, if you haven't, because it's a surprisingly good adaptation. **Fred and George** get credit for all Marauder-ness, because they inspired me. Originally, the chapter started with more of Lily and her friends, but I decided- due to said inspiration by F&G in GoF- that the world needs more Marauders. :-P

**Chapter 10- All Hallows' Eve**

"'_Suspension of disbelief' is like believing that self-control exists with **Jack **and **Sawyer** on the Island..."_ –Anna (as an answer on her Lit test)

---

"Admit it, Moony. Just admit it. It won't kill you, will it? Four little words..."

"It _wasn't_ all that"

Sirius let out his signature bark-like laugh, interrupting his friend. "You're in _denial_, Moony! _Say it_."

Remus shook his head and rolled his grey eyes. He was smirking, nevertheless.

"He's a bleeding chicken, Prongs," laughed Sirius again. "He's afraid to say it!" James laughed along with Sirius. They were strolling down the first floor corridor, on their way to class on a bright Thursday morning.

"I'm disappointed in you, Moons," sighed James, mockingly. "A coward? We have a _coward_ among the Marauders."

"Hey, don't forget Worms," joked Sirius, nudging Peter, and grinning. "We have _two_ cowards among Marauders. It sort of hurts, doesn't it..." he grasped at his heart dramatically.

"We should expel them!" James declared.

"And chop off their heads!"

"And _force_ Remus to admit it. _Four little words_, Moons! That's all we ask!"

"'Moons?' Where does this 'Moons' rubbish come from?"

"Dunno. Go with it."

"Stop digressing!" accused James. "C'mon. Admit it, Moony, or we'll chop off your head."

"And you'll be forced to spend the rest of your days moping like Nearly Headless Nick," reiterated Sirius.

"Sod off, you two."

"Moony!"

"Fine," sighed Remus, as he rolled his eyes for the second time. "I'll say it, okay?"

"Good. Say it."

"I will."

"Then do it."

"I will!"

"_Today_, preferably..."

"I _will!_"

"Then _do it!_"

"Okay, okay: _that was g..."_

_"_Brilliant, Moony!"

"But it wasn't!"

"_DENIAL!_"

Remus rolled his eyes yet again. "Fine, fine, fine. That was brilliant."

"'_Bloody_ brilliant!'"

"But it..."

"Say it, Moony!"

"Your prats."

"_Moony!_"

"Dammit. Fine. That was... that was _bloody_ brilliant! Happy now?"

James and Sirius were too busy cheering and shaking each other's hands victoriously to answer. "We're so proud!" Sirius pretended to sob.

"Our Ickle Moony is all grown up!" James pronounced.

"It's beautiful!"

"Spectacular!"

"Wonderful!"

"Momentous!"

"Unforgettable!"

"Amazing!"

"Spectacular!"

"I already said that..."

"Well it's doubly spectacular, then!"

Sirius punched the air and did some sort of dance that sent Remus and Peter into peels of laughter. James joined in the dance, which only made them laugh harder. "He... admitted... to... our... brilliance... Prongs!" gasped Sirius through laughs.

"We're... successes!" agreed James, also laughing.

"I didn't admit to _your_ brilliance," Remus contradicted. "I admitted to the brilliance of bewitching the second floor suits of armor to chase Mrs. Norris about."

"Denial!" chorused James and Sirius, still dancing. People laughed as they progressed down the corridor, but only in the all-in-good-fun sort of way, rather than making fun of them. Severus Snape scoffed and rolled his eyes as he passed, but did not interfere, for Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was passing as well.

"If you look to your left, you can see the Village Idiots performing their native dance," cut in a sharp voice. James stopped dancing and found himself face to face with Lily Evans, whose eyebrows were raised, though her green eyes betrayed reluctant amusement.

"If you look directly in front of you, you can see the Resident Slut being bitchy as usual," retorted James, far too cheerfully.

Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes, baring a striking resemblance to Remus as she did so. "Head meeting tomorrow at seven, Potter," she said, the ends of her mouth twitching.

"Gotcha," James said, bowing slightly.

Sirius and Remus snorted behind him, and he aimed to kick one of them. Judging by Sirius's vehement "Ouch!" it was Padfoot that James had hit. The non-injured Marauders laughed, and Lily deemed to try not to react.

"See you, 'round," she said nonchalantly, turning and walking (_not_ dancing) in the direction the Marauders had been heading.

When she was gone, the other three Marauders fell into pace with James, who was now searching through his book bag for something.

"A cozy little head meeting with Evans, eh?" taunted Sirius.

"Psh... oh yeah. Evans," muttered James, rolling his eyes. "What a bird, eh?" The others laughed again, in an overall cheerful mood. James began searching through his book bag. "I forgot my Herbology book," he announced finally. "I'm gonna go get it."

"I'm _not_ going back," said Peter flatly.

"Just save me a seat," James called over his shoulder, as he turned and sprinted back up the corridor. He was forced to pass through the second floor corridor on which he had wreaked havoc earlier, was cornered by Filch, given a detention for the following Monday, and finally made it through to the staircase upwards.

"Hey, Prongs! James! Prongs!" came a muffled sounding voice suddenly, which caused James to jump. He looked around, but no one was on the stair with him. "_James Potter_!" pressed the voice.

Comprehension dawned on the Marauder, and he opened his book bag quickly, searching through it again. He located a mirror in an inconspicuous pocket on the left side of the bag, and pulled it out. However, when looking into the mirror, James did not see his own reflection staring back at him. Instead, he saw Sirius.

"Finally!" complained Sirius's face.

"I'm sorry- disembodied voices are so common with me, I can never tell where they're coming from," James replied sarcastically.

"Speak to the nurse about that one, Mate," said Sirius through the mirror; "But not right now, 'cos I need you to stop by Slughorn's potions stores once you've got your Herbology book."

"What for?"

"To nick some Kneazle hairs for the Felix Felicis we owe Frank Longbottom."

"Why do we owe Frank Longbottom Felix Felicis?"

Sirius's eyes tried to communicate something that he could not quite articulate with his mouth. "_You_ know… that thing last week in Charms..."

"Oh right! But why don't _you_ stop by Slughorn's stores?"

"You're closer. And I don't want to be late for first period..."

"Whereas it doesn't matter if _I_ am," James countered, cocking an eyebrow.

"More or less. Will you do it?"

If it had been anyone else, James would have said flatly and firmly "no." Unfortunately for him, it was not anyone else, and he did, in fact, sigh and say: "Okay, okay. Kneazle fur for Felix Felicis."

"Say _that_ five times fast," laughed Sirius.

"Fur for Felix Felicis. Fur for Felix Felicis. Fur for..."

"Never mind. People think I'm talking to myself in this damned mirror and giving me funny stares."

"They're always giving you funny stares, Padfoot."

"Shut up. I've got to go. Bye."

"See you later." James replaced the mirror into his bag, looked about to make sure no one had seen him speaking to a _mirror_, then continued upward on the stair. Instead of going strait to the seventh floor, towards Gryffindor Tower, James took the fifth floor- the Potions department.

Professor Slughorn's most private potions stores (he had several stores) were on the other end of the General potions classroom. James came to the spot in the middle of the corridor where this was located, and peaked through the slightly open door. No class was in session, and Slughorn was standing near his desk, conversing with Mr. Korcesh from the Ministry of Magic, and Professor Praedam of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Undeterred (in fact, very far from deterred), James opened his all-purpose book bag, glad that he had remembered- on this particular day- most of his items, necessary for havoc-wreaking. It took only a moment to locate a silvery, fluid cloak folded inside. Checking his surroundings once more, James saw that no one was about in the corridor (breakfast, though over for most, was still in session for some, and classes didn't start until nine). Then, he pulled the cloak out of his bag, and pulled it over him.

If someone _had_ happened to be in the corridor, they would have seen James disappear into thin air. It was an invisibility cloak that he wore.

James drew his wand, and, slipping his hand under the cloak, into the visible world, pointed it at a hinge of the classroom door. "Finite Aquamentis," he whispered, and a slight squirt of water covered the hinge. James repeated this on the other two hinges, then replaced his wand in his pocket.

The door opened noiselessly, and Slughorn, Korcesh, and Praedam did not notice its movement of another few inches. James slipped inside and moved quietly across the room. Again, he repeated the action of moistening the hinges of the door- this time to the Potions stores. Having long-since mastered the unspoken spell, James unlocked the door silently also, and crept inside.

He looked about for the Kneazle hairs, not paying any attention to anything that the adults were saying.

When he located the necessary potion ingredient, James reached to the top shelf for the vial that contained the strands of fur. He obtained it easily, but as he did so, he noticed something that made his heart skip a beat.

Slughorn's voice grew louder and closer.

"I don't know, Becket," he was saying; "I can't see a reason for the Ministry to hang about so. It's almost as if Hogwarts is taunting Him."

James checked to make sure that the cloak was completely covering him, and moved as far back into the corner as he could, which was somewhat less than he hoped due to the many shelves of supplies. Slughorn's voice spoke again, and he was obviously moving closer and closer to the cupboard.

"It's almost like daring Him to try something, isn't it?"

James held his breadth, for anyone could still _hear_ him under his Invisibility Cloak. "I disagree," stated Korcesh predictably, and from the sound of it, he was a bit farther off. "The danger hasn't passed at all- inside or outside of the castle."

"And having aurors and such here provides quite a sense of security," agreed Praedam's voice. Slughorn grunted, and he was clearly right outside the door. James hoped desperately that he did not intend to search about the stores for anything. He could see nothing through the slightly ajar door.

"Maybe, maybe," mused the Potions master, and he pushed the door to the stores shut. He did not comment on the fact that the door had not been closed, which led James to assume he had closed it namely out of habit.

James sighed, partially out of relief and partially out of irritation. He wondered regretfully how long it would be before he was able to sneak out.

"I simply believe that the danger has passed," Slughorn was continuing, still just outside.

"You speak ignorantly," pointed out Korcesh.

"Why would He continue to attack Hogwarts?" asked Slughorn. "He failed the first time, didn't he? Though, I admit, that was something of an anticlimactic attack."

"Anticlimactic?" asked Praedam's more distant voice, surprised.

"Poor vocabulary use, I suppose," reiterated Slughorn. "'Unimpressive' would be better, I think."

"Unimpressive?" Praedam croaked again, beginning to sound like a parrot. "I don't see how! He attacked the school! There were so many injured..."

"But none dead," Slughorn persisted. "There's got to be a reason for that, eh?" He began to move away from the storeroom.

"Perhaps they're waiting to take over," said Praedam, a hint of amusement detectable in this voice.

"Or perhaps," said Korcesh, "waiting to attack again and destroy. Weaken first, then obliterate. I'm sure that this isn't over," he added darkly.

"I don't know about _that_," said the Dark Arts teacher. "But the Ministry influences definitely should stay. Like I said... a sense of security. False or not..."

"Not," said Korcesh firmly.

Slughorn's chuckle was heard. "Everyone thinks their own job is the most important, Gilbert," he said, presumably to Korcesh.

"Of course," Korcesh replied. "I have to go now, though. Patrols of the grounds are in a few minutes, and Moody should have the second report on the forest search this morning too." There were footsteps, then the sound of a closing door, as Korcesh apparently exited the room.

James breathed more freely, as he began to see a glimmer of hope that he would be able to escape soon. "Why do you want the Ministry's people to leave, Horace?" asked Praedam, when Korcesh had gone.

"I don't feel any more secure with them here," muttered Slughorn. "They only guard the _outside_ of the castle."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It may be the inside that's dangerous."

"Do you think there's... there's someone who ought not be here... _inside_ Hogwarts?" For the first time, Praedam's voice betrayed apprehension. He cleared his throat nervously.

"I don't know," Slughorn admitted. "But Dumbledore sees it as a possibility. It could be anyone too... a student, a staff member..."

"Even you, Horace?"

"I don't think so," Slughorn said, chuckling. "But I could be mistaken. Perhaps _you_, Becket?"

There was a pause in the conversation, and James wished desperately that he could see the expressions on the two professors' faces. "Oh my- I have class in a few minutes," Praedam exclaimed suddenly. "I've got to get upstairs- or downstairs... wherever I am these days..." he laughed slightly: "Be seeing you, Horace."

"Goodbye, Becket," replied Slughorn, his voice losing it's thoughtfulness. When Praedam had gone, James heard what he hoped was Slughorn sitting at his desk.

Very quietly, the Head Boy drew his wand again, and magically unlocked the relocked door. He pushed it open as unobtrusively and slightly as possible, and saw through the sheer cloak that Slughorn was, indeed, deeply involved in some papers at his desk.

He crept across the office, exited, and as he continued down the corridor, was fairly certain that he heard Slughorn close the door with a slam, and curse about the "damned doors in this office."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"Damn door!" swore Lily, holding her left ring finger tightly in her right hand, having just had the greenhouse door close on it.

"Sorry," said Severus Snape sarcastically, as he pushed past her.

"Bastard," Lily murmured after him.

"You called?" came James Potter's voice from behind her.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Shut up and don't talk to me," she snapped. "My finger hurts, this blouse it uncomfortable, thanks to _your_ being five minutes late for class we have an extra two feet of parchment for that damned essay, and thanks to your being _without an Herbology book_ we hall have _another_ extra six inches!"

James was _not_ Lily's favorite person at the moment.

"Cheerful today, aren't we?"

"As always."

They walked up in pace together towards the castle. Or at least, James kept up with Lily, who was trying to ditch him.

"Why are you following me again?" she demanded presently.

"Well, I have some news that might interest you, but if you're going to be bitchy about it, then I guess I wont tell..."

"Alright then- don't."

Lily continued to walk. James hurried after her.

"Alright, alright..." he continued, "if you're going to keep bothering me about it... it has to do with certain... occurrences... on September the First." He finished with relish.

Lily looked over her shoulder at him. He was on lower ground, for the path from the greenhouses involved traveling a fair distance upward to the castle. She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

James said nothing, and continued to walk however, until he was farther in front of her. She rolled her eyes. "_Fine_," she muttered, walking up after him. "What is it?"

The Head Boy looked about shiftily, then said: "You _know_ the only reason I'm telling this to _you_ is that I swore not to tell anyone else about the whole... thing..." Lily nodded in understanding. "Well," James continued, excitement in his voice mounting; "I sort of... overheard... some things in Slughorn's office..."

"What were you doing in Slughorn's office?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Nicking potions supplies."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"I don't know. Why aren't you surprised?"

"Shut up. Go on."

"Which do you want me to...?"

"_Potter._"

"Okay, okay..."

James proceeded to relate to the suspicious Head Girl the details of what he had overheard while trapped in the potions cupboard. When he had finished, they had reached the Entrance Hall of the castle, and James turned to face Lily, his face teeming with as much enthusiasm as had been in his voice.

Lily was something less than excited.

"Why were you stealing Kneazle hairs from his private stores? There's plenty in the student cupboard!"

James rolled his eyes. "Is that _all_ you got out of my story?"

"Yes... well... no. I see why you've got light brown hair on your robes... though, that may not be from a Kneazle..." She brushed off the few hairs from his shoulder. "And how did you get in without being spotted?" The Head Boy had consciously left out the bit about his Invisibility cloak.

"You're impossible," James stated. "Don't you get it? Slughorn thinks there's a spy at the school!"

"Lovely!" said Lily sardonically; "what do you want me to do? Invite the guy for tea?"

"_I_ know who it is!" James added. Lily's expression of irritation and mocking faded seamlessly into one of shock.

"Who?" she asked eagerly, her eyes clouded with wonder.

"Praedam," James replied impressively.

For a minute, Lily was fully ready to believe this. But that minute passed quickly and silently, and skepticism filled the Head Girl once more. "What makes you say that?" she asked, continuing to walk again.

James followed, frowning. "I don't... I don't exactly _know_. I just... well... the only time Praedam seemed even remotely anxious was when Slughorn implied that he suspected there was someone dangerous _inside _the castle. And the silence in the room when Slughorn jokingly accused him... I would have killed to see Praedam's expression."

"So what you're really saying," said Lily, "is that you don't 'know who it is' like you said, but you have a suspicion."

"Sure, why not?"

"That's hardly damning evidence," Lily pointed out. "And if he _were_ a spy for V-Voldemort... wouldn't he want the Ministry to _leave_?"

"But the Ministry doesn't have aurors planted _inside _the castle... he'd be safe, so far. Korcesh isn't the most competent guy in the world, and, except for occasionally Moody or Bright, no one else from the Ministry comes inside the castle. All Praedam would have to worry about- as a spy- would be Dumbledore."

"Oh is that all?" mocked Lily.

"_And_," James continued, ignoring the interjection; "he mentioned- Praedam mentioned- a 'false sense of security.' With the Ministry here all the time, it makes people relax."

"I don't know about that..." lied Lily. In truth, she did know about that. Only last week, people had begun pleading her to intercede with Dumbledore for a Hogsmeade visit. A month ago, people had been apprehensive about going down to the greenhouses. They entered the common room.

James raised his eyebrows. "Can we forget for a second that this is me- James Potter, archenemy- speaking, and you can believe me?"

"This has nothing to do with the fact that I hate you," Lily said, a faint flush coming to her cheeks, which James suspected was anger.

"Then what does it have to do with?"

"Not enough evidence!" insisted Lily, feeling that there was at least partial truth to this. The evidence _wasn't_ overwhelming. James cocked his head suspiciously. "Okay, _and_ the fact that I hate you..."

"But look at it this way," argued James, lowering his voice, so as not to be noticed by the few others in he Common Room. "It's likely whoever the spy was would be on the platform _during_ the attack, right? To see how things go and make sure none of the grunts broke ranks and such?"

"Alright, I'll grant you that. Was Praedam there?"

"Mhm. I thought he was a Ministry guy at first, 'cos I didn't recognize him, but he was dueling just like the rest of the staff..."

"McGonagall was there, and McGonagall probably wants the aurors to stay..." said Lily, "does that make McGonagall a spy?"

"This _happens_ to be Praedam's first year at the school, no?"

"Yes, but in case you haven't noticed, we haven't been too lucky with Dark Arts teachers..."

"Right, but this has never happened before... death eaters attacking Hogwarts, I mean."

"Hogsmeade," Lily corrected.

"Right. Even still... Voldemort's been around for almost seven years... well, he's had political power for almost seven years, anyway. Why wouldn't he try this before? Hogwarts has always been a bit of a threat."

"I know it's weird," Lily said- hands on hips; "but there's a million possible explanations that don't even have the word 'Praedam' in them."

"Mmm... true, but a couple thousand of them have the word 'spy' in them."

Lily arched her eyebrows. "If you went off and told all that stuff to the auror Moody... or even if you told you're beloved Keira Brighton- let alone Dumbledore or McGonagall- they'd say exactly the same thing as I am... _and_ you'd get in trouble for eavesdropping."

"I wasn't going to tell th..."

"Liar," Lily interrupted. She smirked slightly.

"Okay, so I was. But what do _you_ suggest? C'mon... you can't completely ignore it."

"No?"

"No."

Lily sighed. "We should simply keep an eye on Praedam," she said finally. "If he acts suspiciously, then we can do something drastic..."

"Like what? Kill him?"

"Search his office, maybe..."

James rolled his eyes. As he walked away to the boys' dormitories, he looked over his shoulder and said: "You and I have very different views on what 'drastic' means."

Lily privately agreed.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

There is a thin line between "keeping an eye" on someone, and stalking them. James had long ago seen the line, completely disregarded it, hopped over, and started sprinting.

Lily had walked obliviously over it.

Friday was Halloween. Lily, along with Eden, Lexi, Frank, Alice, Leander Vireo (Alice had broken up and gotten back together with him twice in the last month), Eddie Bones, and Abby Shaw (Lexi's fifth year sister) trudged along the second floor to breakfast that morning.

"Halloween is vastly superior when there's a Hogsmeade visit attached," sighed Lexi regretfully.

"Mmm..." was the general murmur of agreement.

"If there was a trip today, where would you guys all go?" Eden asked sadly.

"Three Broomsticks," replied Frank and Alice in unison.

"The bookshop," sighed Lexi. "Or Honeydukes."

"The Hogs Head," said Eddie.

"The Shrieking Shack," said Leander, with a significant glance at his girlfriend, which she did her best to ignore, or at least privately rationalize. The path that led to the "most haunted spot in Britain" was a renowned snog spot.

"Honeydukes," Abby Shaw said definitively. "I haven't had any chocolate in months."

"What about you, E?" Lily asked.

"Corona," said Eden, sighing again.

"Corona?"

Eden smiled. "It's the best shop in the world... the Marauders showed it to me in fourth year."

"I would never have guessed," Lexi murmured wryly.

"Shut up," said Eden, rolling her blue eyes; "what about you, Lilith?"

"I don't know," shrugged Lily. "Anywhere- everywhere..." she trailed off, her eyes having landed on someone she particularly wanted to observe.

Professor Praedam was passing them on the staircase, but he was moving away from the Great Hall. "Good morning, Professor," Lily said, gauging his reaction.

"Good morning, Miss Evans," replied the Professor, bowing slightly. He showed no signs of jumpiness or anxiety that James seemed so insistent that he have.

"What, no breakfast?" she asked of him, before she knew what she was doing.

Teachers tended to like Lily, and it was due to this that she could tease and banter with them. Even the stiffer, new teachers, like Praedam.

"I'll be down in a bit," Praedam said, smiling uncharacteristically at her.

"I'll miss you until you do," Lily said, grinning falsely over her shoulder at the passing Professor Praedam. '_Merlin, I feel like E..._' This _was_ an oddly more of an Eden-esque conversation, but it wasn't so unusual. And she was growing paranoid about Praedam anyway. Perhaps this was because of the randomly significant looks that Potter kept sending her. Damn him.

"You realize you're flirting with a seventy-something?" Eddie asked.

"I wasn't flirting," laughed Lily honestly. "Spying" maybe, but not flirting. Not that she could tell Eddie that. They came to the grand staircase that came into Entrance Hall. Lily thought quickly. "We don't have any classes first period, right?" she asked.

No one replied.

"You guys are so helpful," she said sarcastically.

"Sorry gorgeous, but _you're _the one who knows the schedule," Eden apologized dispassionately.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Save me a spot," she said, directing this to Eden more than the others, for Eddie and Leander were Ravenclaws, Frank and Lexi were bound to sit together, Abby would be with her fifth year friends, and Alice was likely to sit with her boyfriend.

"Mhm. Where are you going?" inquired the blonde.

"I forgot something in the dormitory," Lily lied vaguely over her shoulder. She hurried back up the corridor she had just come down. If her friends were suspicious or curious, they did not say so.

Once out of sight, Lily broke into a sprint, curiosity mounting. She and her friends had been a few minutes late for breakfast... why was Praedam leaving now, though? Dumbledore had promised a particularly grand Halloween breakfast, to make up for the lack of Hogsmeade trip. The breakfast was supposed to be as grand as Halloween supper- the famous, highly anticipated feast. The whole castle would be down there this morning... so where was Praedam going?

The dark figure that was clearly Praedam came into view several flights up. Lily could recognize his wobbly walk, and the intricate, grand robes he wore, even at this distance. She quickened her pace as she saw Praedam continue upward.

Flight after flight... he was climbing awfully high.

Lily, being rather fast, and much younger, soon caught up to the point where she was only one flight below him. And then, Praedam got off the stair at the seventh floor corridor. Lily stepped quietly after him, and, when she too entered the corridor, she saw Praedam walking along the deserted corridor much more quickly than before. His walk was no longer vaguely unstable or wobbly.

The Head Girl followed cautiously, ducking behind a suit of armor, or tapestry here and there, just to make sure Praedam didn't turn around and notice that he was being followed.

And then, mid-corridor, he stopped. He did not turn at first, and Lily ducked behind the threshold of a door, just peaking around the edge to see what he did. His head turned so that his profile alone was facing Lily, and his face showed concentration, as if he was listening carefully. Lily was not breathing, and it was the knowledge that she was completely silent that caused her to listen closely too.

There were voices coming from the door behind her.

"I won't cover up for you any longer, Michael," came a woman's voice. The harsh tone, though trying to whisper, was unmistakably the Herbology teacher, Professor Grossman's.

"Cover up, Adelaide?" came Professor Silth's silky voice. But how could that be? Professor Silth's first name was "Damien."

Grossman could be heard scoffing. "Yes, cover up. I knew I'd seen you somewhere... the name may have changed... _Michael_... and your hair is black now... and the face... slightly different maybe. But I know who you are..."

Footsteps sounded, and Lily suspected someone was pacing. She was forcefully reminded of James's own eavesdropping escapade only the day before. "Adelaide... you're being..."

But what Professor Grossman was being was suddenly an unimportant issue to the seventh year girl. Lily had glanced around the corner and saw Professor Praedam coming down the corridor. He couldn't be more than two yards away, and Lily was trapped between the conversation she'd been listening in on, and the Professor she'd been following.

Praedam walked slowly and quietly, and his eyes were facing towards the threshold now, which Lily had ducked behind. In another minute, she would be visible to him. She thought fast, and did the only thing that came to mind.

She turned, so that she was facing the door to the office, and knocked on it.

Silth's voice, which had been halfway through a silky excuse, suddenly broke off. "Who is it?" he said, his voice more silky than usual.

Praedam appeared at Lily's shoulder.

"Why, Miss Evans," he said, surprised. Lily turned to face the Dark Arts teacher, just as Silth opened the door, demanding, once again, to know who was at the door. "I didn't see you there," Praedam continued. "When did you come?"

"May I help you?" Silth asked, looking less slick than Lily thought she had ever seen him.

Distracted by the two questions, and the rush of lies that came to her head, Lily stammered for a minute. "I-er... I wanted... sorry, I wanted to ask Professor Silth a question." She turned to the Ancient Runes professor.

"Oh... er... you... you haven't been waiting long, I trust?" Silth asked, about as unsure sounding as Lily.

"I only got here a moment ago, why?" asked Lily innocently. Her lies grew progressively more convincing. "This isn't a bad time, is it? Are you busy with something?" She pretended not to know that Professor Grossman was in the office.

"I'm afraid it is," said Silth, also resuming composure. "I was about to have a meeting with Becket here." Becket Praedam looked confused for a moment, and though the look was brief, Lily was certain she'd seen it.

"Will you excuse us, Miss Evans?" asked Praedam, giving her an odd look. Internally, Lily was shaking. Externally, she looked slightly disappointed. She gave herself points for her acting at least.

"Oh, of course. Sorry, it was just about the extra credit assignment Professor Silth gave us for Runes. I can dig up Remus and ask him though. Sorry, Sirs..."

She turned and high-tailed it out of there as calmly as possible.

"A meeting?" came Praedam's hushed voice through the corridor. Silth shushed him, and Lily exited the corridor. She waited on the stair, however. Neither Praedam nor Silth appeared, but it was not they that she was waiting for. Finally, the one that she _was_ waiting for arrived.

Lily, who was on the landing just below the sixth floor, saw Professor Grossman exit and set off down the stair. Lily hurried down the stairs quietly and inconspicuously (she hoped). She made it to the Entrance Hall, and chanced a look over her shoulder as she entered the Great Hall. Grossman was exiting the castle through the large doors that led out to the grounds.

Sense overcoming her curiosity, Lily took a seat at the Gryffindor table, near Eden, who was sitting with the Marauders.

She did not dare to speak to Potter.

After a few minutes, Professor Silth appeared and took his seat at the Staff table.

A few minutes after that, Professor Praedam came.

Professor Grossman did not come to breakfast that morning.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"Okay, so rewind... Professor Praedam was talking to Grossman..."

"_No.__Grossman_ was talking to _Silth._"

"Right. Okay. So Grossman 'knows who Silth is' which is apparently someone other than Damien Silth..."

"Yes, and his first name is Michael."

"Okay, so what's the point?"

Lily rolled her eyes at James's stupidity. "Oh come on!" she pleaded, not in the mood for James's stubbornness. "You _must_ be thinking the same thing I am! What if..." they were in a deserted classroom, but Lily lowered her voice anyway- "what if _Silth_ is the spy?"

James paused, and Lily could tell that the idea was not an alien one to him. He _had_ been thinking the same thing. "I don't think so..." he began slowly.

"Why not?" demanded the Head Girl, completely thrown off.

"Because... because Silth doesn't seem... he doesn't seem like the death eater type."

Lily stared. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Potter- but did you just say that 'he doesn't seem like the death eater type?' Because that sure as hell sounded like what you said, which is absolutely inane! '_SEEM LIKE THE DEATH EATER TYPE?_'"

"Bloody Gulping Galloping Merlin Gargoyle Hell, Red! There maybe have been some people in Antarctica who didn't hear you!"

"_There isn't anybody in Antarctica_!"

"Well then even _they_ heard you!"

"That doesn't make any sense, Potter. And don't call me 'Red.'"

"You're changing the subject!"

"No, _you're_ changing the subject!"

The Head Boy and Girl glared at each other, and retreated to opposite sides of the empty classroom. "I still think it's Praedam... what else would he have been doing on the sixth floor?" James said finally.

"_You_ only think it's _Praedam_, because _I_ think it's Silth, and _you_ hate _me_!"

"And _you_ only think it's _Silth_, 'cos _I_ suggested it was _Praedam_, and _you_ hate _me!_"

"Well _you..._ oh never mind."

"Silth doesn't strike me as anybody clever enough to be a death eater," James pressed.

Lily raised her eyebrows, as was becoming a common habit with her when conversing with Potter. "Well he'd be a pretty useless spy if he 'struck you' as being one, wouldn't he? And we've got something on Silth, which is more than we can say for Praedam: he's pretending to be someone he isn't."

"Which doesn't make him a Death Eater, Red. It makes him someone who is pretending to be someone he isn't. And how does Grossman know him, anyway?"

Lily shrugged. "More importantly, _why_ doesn't Dumbledore know all this?"

"Mmm... it's a very impractical time for him to stop being omniscient."

"Mhm."

"But really," James continued presently, "I can see Praedam fooling Dumbledore better than Silth."

Comprehension dawned on Lily. "Oh I get it!" she exclaimed suddenly, standing up and crossing the empty room to the desktop that James sat on. "_You_ like Silth, because he's nice to the Marauders and didn't put you in detention for sneaking dungbombs into Snape's book bag the other day."

"Do not!"

"Do too! Merlin, Potter, you're predictable."

"Predictable? Look who's talking, Miss-I-Wont-Suspect-The-Teacher-Of-My-Favorite-Class!"

"Potter... _Charms_ is my favorite..."

"Ya, right..."

An unfortunately brief silence followed, as the two collected their thoughts, suspicions, conspiracy theories, and various angry thoughts against each other in their respective heads. "Alright then," James said, getting up from the desktop suddenly. "I'm off."

"You're off?" enquired Lily, confused. "Off where?"

"Off far, far away from here," shrugged James, hands in the pockets of his uniform slacks. "I don't remember 'espionage' being on the list of Head Boy duties, and I have Herbology in ten minute anyway."

"So that's it? You're just gonna... forget it all?"

James made for the door, and said, without turning back: "In a word, yes."

"Bastard," Lily muttered after him.

"Red," he returned.

"Oh, shut up."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

The noise in the Great Hall mounted, as the three-dozen or so students that crowded in the center of it muttered to each other more and more excitedly. Dumbledore stood in the center of the small crowd, with a clear circle about him, in which Professor McGonagall also stood. The two conversed quietly and seriously.

James pushed his way through the gossiping crowd, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. He located amongst the group (which consisted of Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years, and some fourth years which James didn't know) Eden Dearborn, who was muttering hurriedly with a Slytherin girl.

"Hey, E!"

Eden forgot the Slytherin all-together and pushed her way to speak with James.

"What's going on?" the Marauder asked over the din. "Why aren't we in class? I went down to the greenhouses, but there was no one down there..."

"No one can find Grossman!" Eden replied, running a hand through her windswept hair. "Everyone went down there and the greenhouses were all empty! We waited for a while, and when Grossman didn't show up, we came up here! I went by Grossman's office, but she wasn't there, and someone went to go ask Dumbledore... that's why he came here, where the rest of the class was hanging out... somehow McGonagall found out, and she brought her whole bleedin' class down here too..."

Eden indicated with a wave of her hand to the fourth years that were also clambering for information.

"Why were you so late for class, anyway?" she added suspiciously.

"Busy," James replied dismissively. "Where are Dumbledore and McGonagall?"

"Over there-" Eden pointed to the spot where they were; "hey, wait for me!" She followed as James pushed his way over to the area that no one dared approach, where the two Head professors were discussing whatever it was they were discussing.

He managed to get a spot along the perimeter of the circle, and watched Dumbledore and McGonagall converse with surprising calmness. He had the strong urge to put a silencing spell on the crowd around him, so that he could hear what they were saying.

"What do you think is going on?" Eden asked, to his right. James started; he'd forgotten she was with him.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "You?"

"I think all the things that have been happening this year aren't coincidences," Eden said sagely. Her eyes were fixed on him and were strangely penetrating.

"W-what are you talking about, E?"

"Well... the obvious of course: this, and the Hogsmeade attack... and the little things in the newspaper..."

"The death threats to the Minister?"

"Mmm... and that Ministry witch who was killed just before start of term."

James was privately surprised at her extensive knowledge. "Obviously Voldemort's behind it all," James said shakily.

"But," Eden replied, "Voldemort's behind a lot of things. What if these particular... _incidents_...?"

But she did not finish, for at that moment, Dumbledore cleared his throat loudly, and demanded quiet. The room instantly quieted. "Fourth years," he said, "Please go with Professor McGonagall back to your class..."

McGonagall led the fourth years back to her Transfiguration class, which had been interrupted. When they had left, the seventh years came closer to Dumbledore, and watched the Headmaster curiously.

"Seventh years," he said, "Please find a desk, and read through the next chapter in your Herbology book. Then write a brief summary of the chapter."

James looked around him and saw that the house tables had been replaced by rows of desks. Professor Dumbledore sat down at the staff table in the front of the Hall.

The Head Boy took the seat nearest him, and Eden took the one next to him. Sirius, Remus, and Peter finally appeared, and took the three on his other side, and presently, Lily Evans came and sat behind him. People were far too afraid of Dumbledore's wrath to whisper with each other, but they did not actually read. They simply stared at a page in the book, most of them thinking.

After a few minutes, James felt someone tap his shoulder, and turned to see Lily handing him a small, folded bit of parchment. She pretended to work again, as he turned back to face forward. He opened the parchment and read it:

"_Potter: how would you like to pull a prank?"_

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

A/N: so... wow. I'm done. FINAL-FREAKIN-LY! Yaya for me! Okay, well since The-Powers-That-Be have decided that we can't do review responses anymore, I have reply to all the signed reviews I got for chapter 9. Thank-you to **Amanda** (**First person to review the chapter!**) and **Danni** (_I'm_ glad you found it too :-P). Cookies all around!

New chapter is- as of now- to be called "The Offices and What Happened After." (Subject to change without notice :-P)

Happy Reading,

Cheers

-Jewels-


	11. In The Offices And What Happened After

**N/C**: Chapter 11! Fun, and weird, and sort of awkward at some spots, but hopefully overall enjoyable. Reviews are lovely. Credit to **maraudersrock77** for the review that inspired the opening paragraph... :-P

_Origins:_ everything good you see here belongs to Rowling. Everything undercooked and lumpy is mine.

_Recap of Last time:_ EL GASPE! Lily and James almost simultaneously grow suspicious of Professors Silth and Praedam (**Lily of Silth, James of Praedam**), and resolve to "keep an eye on them." Both Head Students are extremely stubborn and refuse to consider that the other may be right, because... well... that's how they are. But on Halloween, Herbology teacher, Grossman- who is somehow connected to Silth's mystery- goes missing, and Lily asks James to help her out...

**_Chapter 11- "In the Offices and What Happened After"_**

_"Action is eloquence..." _–William Shakespeare 

Lily resisted the very strong urge to throw her face in the mashed potatoes in front of her. Holy snap. Why did she want to do this? Why did she want to pull a prank? _With Potter?_ She was very confused...

And yet, oddly, she simultaneously did _and_ did not know what she was doing.

Lily's eyes bounced nervously about the excited Great Hall. Students were celebrating the Halloween Feast, completely oblivious to Professor Grossman's absence. Even those who _did_ know that she had failed to come to her Herbology classes that day assumed (or, perhaps, hoped) that it was merely due to an illness.

The Head Girl's eyes flitted from the levitating jack-o-lanterns, up to the Staff table, where the teachers spoke very little, and looked decidedly grave. Alastar Moody had come in twice in the course of the meal so for, and whispered something in Dumbledore's ear, to which the Headmaster had merely nodded. Overall, however, the first half of the feast had been painfully uneventful, and therefore, for Lily, unnerving.

And where was Potter?

He hadn't shown up at all, which was indescribably odd, because his friends were all sitting at the Gryffindor table, joking as if he were not missing at all. Lily was extremely jumpy, but, due to the presence of her laid-back friends, did her very best to hide it.

"I wonder where Grossman is," Eden murmured to Lily, about fifteen minutes into the feast, as the blonde poured herself a glass of specially purchased butterbeer. Lily turned and looked at her friend, who bore an innocent expression.

"What makes you wonder?" Lily asked, hoping to sound casual.

"Nothing," Eden replied calmly; "only, it's odd that she's sick and not in the Infirmary, isn't it?"

"How do you know that she's not there?"

"I went up for some headache medicine at lunch, and there weren't any patients.

"Maybe she stayed in her quarters."

"Mmm... maybe..." agreed Eden, with a note of something that Lily feared to be skepticism in her voice. She said nothing, however, trying to pretend that Grossman's absence was of no concern to her.

She glanced nervously about the Hall again. Potter's unpunctuality was making her nervous... he'd _said_ he'd tell her the plan at the Feast...

Finally, after almost ten more minutes, James made his entrance- "fashionably" late, as usual. He walked the length of the Gryffindor table toward where his fellow Marauders were sitting. However, as he passed Lily, he tripped and fell practically on top of her.

"Ow! _Potter!_ Look out!" Lily accused, pulling herself out from under him, and then pulling her tie out from the gravy it had been forced into.

"Sorry, Red," smirked James, straitening up. Annoyed, but mainly confused, for she had been expecting him to give her certain information, Lily turned back to her meal, as James continued down the table.

But a second glance at her mashed potatoes told Lily that Potter was not as useless as he pretended to be. In the middle of the fluffy, gravy-soaked potatoes, was a piece of folded parchment. With a quick glance to make sure no one else had noticed, Lily pulled the parchment out and opened it under the table.

She wiped her now potato stained hands on her napkin, and read the scrawl- as untidy as its author's hair- in an inconspicuous manner.

_"Red- get out of the Hall sometime in the next 7 minutes. –JP"_

Lily crumpled the letter up and stuffed it into her pocket hastily. For another minute or so, she chatted with Eden as if nothing had happened. Then, getting up, she said: "I've got to go to the bathroom; I'll be right back."

Eden accepted this excuse easily and began chatting with Frank and Lexi. Lily, meanwhile, exited the Hall hurriedly. She waited in the Entrance Hall, just near the door, but around the corner, so that she would not be seen from the Feast. The next two minutes or so passed slowly.

Then, finally, an eternity later, Potter appeared.

But he was with Sirius.

Lily smacked her forehead in irritation, then backed into a corner so as not to be noticed. James saw her when he glanced over his shoulder, and gave her a look that said "Stay put!" Sirius remained blissfully oblivious.

The two Marauders crossed the Entrance Hall and disappeared up the large marble staircase. Lily swore. What was going on now anyway?

Why was Sirius there? Had something gone wrong? How could it? This was Potter- he was a Marauder! Things... Pranks, anyway... were supposed to work when Potter was planning them! Damn it.

"I request _one_ prank..." whispered Lily to herself; "_just one_, and the _one_ that I ask him to arrange... he screws up!"

But a minute later, James appeared on the staircase- alone this time.

He waved for Lily to come with him, and she did. As he guided her up the staircase, he spoke rapidly:

"Okay, so here's the plan: you search Praedam's office, and I search Silth's. We'll have about ten minutes... that's all I can guarantee- but I can definitely guarantee those ten. They wont be showing up."

"How do you...?"

But she did not finish, for James suddenly pulled her behind a tapestry, into an alcove in the wall that Lily had not known existed. "Potter, what are you...?" she began in a whisper, but James hushed her, and she saw why very soon.

There were footsteps, and, peaking around the edge of the tapestry, Lily saw Sirius returning to the Great Hall.

"What was all that with Sirius, anyway?" Lily asked, once he had gone.

"Well, I fed him the usual 'I have to go to the bathroom' rubbish, but he apparently had to go too." The two departed from the alcove behind the tapestry, and continued hastily down the corridor.

"How'd you lose him?"

"Halfway between the bathroom and the Hall I managed to get him to dare me to do something."

"What was the dare?"

"Er... something..."

"What was it? Come on!"

"Shut up, Red."

"Don't call me that."

"Merry Christmas."

"What?"

"Never mind."

They came to the Dark Arts department, and James stopped Lily on the stair. "Remember... ten minutes is all I can guarantee..."

"How do you know they won't show up?"

"Because," said James, half enthusiastic, half annoyed (as if she should already be quite aware of all this), "in a few moments, every pumpkin that's levitating about in the Great Hall is going to explode, covering eighty to ninety percent of the occupants with an engorgement potion."

"Ah."

"Yes."

"And _that_ should get us ten minutes?"

"Yep."

"Good. Especially if Slughorn is heavily affected."

"Why especially Slughorn?"

"Well, if he is, then he'll have a business getting to his Potions supplies and finding the antidote, wont he?"

"Red, you're a girl after my own heart."

"I certainly hope not."

"Okay, get going," James said, changing the subject. "I'll meet you on the fifth floor. Ten minutes, remember..." And he turned and sprinted up the stair towards the sixth floor and the Ancient Runes department. Glancing after him, Lily noticed he had his book bag, and wondered why.

But she did not waste too much time on that, and she too turned and sprinted down the deserted Dark Arts department. She felt an odd sensation in her stomach as she did so, and she prayed it was anxiety, and not a thrill. She _was_ Lily Evans, after all.

Sure, she wasn't always Queen-Rule-Abiding... she'd broken her share of rules. Technically, no one was supposed to snog up in the Astronomy Tower (_especially_ after hours), but she had. And _technically_, she wasn't supposed to roll the waist of her skirt, but she did. And _technically,_ the top button of her blouse was supposed to be buttoned, and her tie tight, at all times, but they weren't.

But this was different. Okay, she'd gone along with one or two of the Marauders' pranks over the last six or so years... but she'd definitely never _asked_ Potter to pull one for her, lied to her friends, and then snuck off to search a teacher's office.

At least, not that she could remember.

She came to the end of the corridor, where Praedam's office was.

It had been Potter's idea for each of them to search the office of the one that they did not suspect. Apparently, it would discourage biased judgment... or something. Whatever _that_ meant.

Slowly and cautiously, Lily made to open the door to the office. She even shut her eyes, willing herself _not_ to do this, as she reached out and grabbed the door handle. She opened them suddenly. The door would not open.

She swore under her breadth and drew her wand. "Alohamora!" she said clearly. She tried the door again, but it remained locked.

Lily swore again, and stepped back. She checked her watch. According to Potter's timeline, she had at least nine and a half minutes left. Praedam had bothered to block the "Alohamora" charm... what else had he bothered to do?

The Head Girl inhaled, then pointed her wand at the door again. She didn't have the foggiest idea of what she was going to do, but she figured that this would be a good first step.

And Potter's voice- unbidden- drifted into her head: _"...every pumpkin that's levitating about in the Great Hall is going to explode, covering eighty to ninety percent of the occupants with an engorgement potion..._"

Inspiration hit, and Lily grinned. "Decretumes!" she said with authority, wand still held high at the door. A moment later, said door had greatly changed. It was, for one thing, about six inches shorter. Then a good foot shorter... then half the size it had been to begin with.

When it was about two inches high, and maybe half an inch across, Lily picked the door up and put it in her pocket. _'Praedam really ought to work on his security_,' Lily thought gloatingly; _'he didn't even bother with an Impervius charm.'_

For that, Lily was thankful.

She walked into the office, and took it all in in a second. It was generally what the Dark Arts teacher's office ought to be. Books covered the shelved and stacked the floors- books with titles like: "_101 Ways to Jinx the Family Curse_" (by Desmond Stanley) or "_Vampires of Europe: Vlad, Radu, and Others_" (by Professor Thomas Reilly). There were several skulls on the desk and pictures on the wall, which portrayed either somber looking wizards in black cloaks, or else vicious and gruesome creatures that Lily had never seen before.

But once this was all absorbed, Lily headed directly for Praedam's desk. She pushed aside his chair, and opened the top drawer, unsure of exactly what she was looking for... aside from damning evidence...

This top drawer, which was rather deep, was filled with a large stack of parchment. The top few were already graded werewolf essays that the fifth years had written. Under those, was an answer sheet for the second years' next test, and just below that were the tests that the N.E.W.T. level students were to take the following Wednesday.

Lily only glanced at this, resisting a strong urge to more thoroughly study it, and reminding herself, with a look at her watch, that she had just over eight minutes left. Lily shut this desk drawer and bent lower down to search the second.

It too held a stack of parchment. Lily fingered through the top few slips, which were also school essays. However, just below that, were some items of minor interest.

There were two sheets that were exactly identical, and read: "The Collectors Club Application Form." It looked like any other blank application form, with a line for a name and address, but also with a few other spaces for things like: "Items of interest" and such.

Just below those were more uncompleted applications, but of a different variety.

"Application for a Portkey," Lily read in a whisper. Was Praedam planning on taking a trip? Had he already taken one, and these were merely in case of emergency? There was a purchase date in the corner: August 3rd.

_'Potter's made you paranoid, Lily Evans!_' Lily reprimanded herself mentally. '_There could be six million different reasons for a Portkey application!_'

Lily slid put the parchments back inside, but as she moved them into place with her fingers, she felt the drawer shift oddly. She removed the paper again, setting it on the ground next to her, and felt the bottom of the drawer. At first, it felt normal, and Lily supposed she'd only imagined it.

However, when she pulled her hand back, she was sure she'd felt the bottom of the drawer shift. Her fingers moved quickly about the perimeter of the drawer-bottom, and a moment later, located what she was looking for.

She pulled back with her fingernails, and revealed, under the supposed wooden bottom of the drawer, another level.

There was no parchment here, but there _was_ something much more interesting.

A key.

A vaguely familiar thrill ran through Lily as she picked up and fingered it. It was large and old-fashioned: bronze, and ornately carved and decorated. On the handle, was a single engraved letter: E.

"What do you go to?" Lily whispered, either to herself, or to the key. "Why are you important enough to hide in a false bottomed drawer, but used enough to be left unprotected by magic?"

Realizing she was talking to a key, and with six and a half minutes left, Lily had no more time to even imagine what this key might go to. She overcame a moment of indecision, and placed the key back into the drawer. She replaced the false bottom, and the papers next, and closed the drawer.

She opened the last one, excitement teeming through her.

There were a few not-yet-graded essays of the first years. Below that, were about half a dozen more blank Portkey applications. Then, she came upon a parchment envelope, and did not resist the urge to open it. She'd long since passed the point of no return.

There was a letter inside, written in an hasty scrawl, but Lily was able to read it quickly:

"_My Dearest Friend and Colleague,_

_How are you enjoying your part of the country? The weather's atrocious here, but I've heard it's lovely there. Business has ceased to be pleasure. My partner is being completely lax about this job, which is rather sad, for he's never been like this before, and I've worked with him for years, as you well know. How is Delilah? Still working well, I trust?_

_I haven't been able to get to the village much, and the liqueur is running low. I must attend to that quickly. How is it there? I miss your particular area, and I rather wish I had the job you've got. But this one has its perks... cannot imagine one at the moment: mortal peril and such, but there must be _some_ perks, eh? Well, this letter is merely to check up, and to remind you that I exist, when you're rich from the job, and I'm still stuck here. Give Delilah my love... the woman's a natural... and enjoy the season. I hate autumn. Ghastly, isn't it?_

_Many regards,_

_Elliot."_

The letter was entirely worthless to Lily, except for one thing. The date at the top read "October 31st."

Today.

Either the letter was a year old, or it had been written and received all in the same day.

Four minutes were left.

Lily replaced all the contents of the drawer (after having satisfied herself that the bottom of _this_ drawer was legitimate), and stood to survey the room for anything else of importance.

There were stacks of paper by the fireplace, which Lily thumbed through, and discovered to be only school-related. The calendar on the wall was entirely blank. There wasn't even a birthday, or a "Meet Cousin Joan, 3:30" on a single day in all twelve months.

With about two and a half minutes remaining, Lily received a shock. She heard voices. She peaked around the empty doorframe, and saw three students hurrying up the staircase a medium distance away, several with unnaturally large hands, and one with a clearly bloated nose. Potter had guaranteed ten minutes!

She pulled the miniature door from her pocket, placed it on the ground, and said quietly (wand drawn): "Redintegra!"

The door immediately began to grow again, and, with an extra wave of Lily's wand, was re-latched onto its hinges, and into its proper place.

Lily turned and looked about the room. Her eyes fell upon a large trunk in one corner. As she approached it, however, she saw something else that caught her eye. Next to the trunk, was a book. Lily picked it up and read the title, which was written in curling, golden letters.

_"Hogwarts, a History of Artifacts."_

Hogwarts had artifacts?

She thumbed through several pages. It was almost all small print, large words, and what Lily could only assume to be "collector's jargon" for this seemed to belong to someone who one might find at the Antique Dealers' Convention.

There were several pictures, which included one of the school Sorting Hat, a few of some trophies in the trophy room, and even a picture of a statue that Lily knew to be on the third floor corridor. Was that musty old troll really an "artifact?"

Lily did not have time to contemplate this, for she was running out of time. She set the book down, checked her watch (she had just over a minute of "guaranteed" time) and got up to leave. Praedam could show up at any moment.

However, in doing so, she stubbed her toe on the trunk. She swore and glared irritably down at it.

Her eyes widened in surprise and ecstasy. The lock on the trunk was large and old-fashioned: bronze, and ornately carved and decorated. Just under the keyhole, was a fancy, engraved letter "E."

Lily grinned with mischief and delight. She sprinted to the desk in a second, and pulled the papers and false bottom of the second drawer away in another second. She found the key and hurried back to the trunk. When it was unlocked (Lily had completely forgotten about the time), the Head Girl pushed off the lid and stared expectantly in it.

The top layer was nothing but fancy cloaks. They were of all different colors- violet, scarlet, golden, brown, and a particularly magnificent one of shimmering, silky silver. Lily ignored these, and pushed them aside to look below.

Here, there were books. The Head Girl read a few titles ("Treasures of the Pyramids" and the fictional piece: "The Widow from Sussex"), and then pushed them aside as well. She dug deeper into the trunk, excitement growing.

There were papers below the books, all of which were blank, but Lily did not have time to investigate. Her heart was beating quickly now, and she knew that she must be out of "guaranteed" time.

Below the papers, there was only one last object. There was a small, rectangular box wrapped in silk, which Lily pulled out with interest. She unveiled it, and looked the box over. It was leather, and about eight inches long and three inches deep. She shook it, but heard no rattling... yet it did not feel empty. She made to open the box, but at that moment, heard something else.

Something much more frightening.

Loud voices from the corridor.

Never in her life had Lily Evans been so terrified, and never in her life, had she moved so quickly. She threw the books, cloaks, and parchment back into the trunk and shut it, not caring if it was locked. She heard footsteps and voices coming close to the door, but was so horrified, that she could not hear what the speakers were actually saying.

She was sprinting to the desk, as she heard someone fumbling with the doorknob, but did not turn back to see who entered. She shoved the key under the papers of the second drawer (though not under the false foundation), just as she heard the door creak open.

There was no time to hide- barely time to think- and Lily froze, as door completely opened, and someone stepped inside...

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

James darted up the stairway: the one between the fifth and sixth floors. He checked his wristwatch: 5:49.

The thought occurred to him, that he did not know if he had told Lily that the pumpkins in the Great Hall would "explode" at precisely 5:50, and that the ten minute countdown would begin from there. He _did_ know, that it had been a slight exaggeration to say that he could "guarantee" ten minutes.

But such was life.

Lily was smart... she could handle herself.

Maybe.

If not, the worse that could happen was she would get caught.

He did not think she was the type of person to rat him out as a collaborator.

Silth's office, once James had come to it, was locked. He raised the wand he had already drawn and tapped the handle once, saying uncertainly: "Alohamora." He could hear a click, and, smirking victoriously, he pushed the door open. Silth obviously hadn't been expecting company.

The office was- in a word- messy.

Papers were stacked in disorderly piles all about the room, and books were jammed haphazardly on the shelves and mantelpiece. The fire in the fireplace was dying fast, but ashes stained the hearth. Silth's desk was barely recognizable underneath the papers and books and quills and folders and newspapers and inkwells, most of which were empty. There were posters on the walls- all of complicated looking runes and strange lingual diagrams that did not look entirely comprehensible.

But James barely paid any attention to this.

He was a Marauder, and this was not the first room he had searched. From the office-searching experience he'd acquired over the years, he knew that the first place to look was the desk. Not the desk _top_, mind you, but the drawers. No one would ever leave anything _really_ important on top of the desk for the whole world to see.

James hurried over to the desk and opened the top drawer.

It was predictably messy.

Boxes of paperclips, a dozen quills, a bottle of ink or two... there was nothing of interest in here.

The second and third drawers were different. They contained papers.

There was a letter from someone named "Uncle Lucille" (James raised an eyebrow at this) and a photograph of Silth and a beautiful brunette- the two smiling and waving up at James from their paper world, and the words _"With Love, Dee,"_ written in neat script on the back.

There was several shop receipts in both drawers- mostly for various places in Hogsmeade, including James's favorite shop: "Corona" (for a set of gobstones), the post office (for some long-distance owls), and the bookshop ("Around the World in Twenty-Six Minutes: Lengthy Apparitions).

There was a small, almost pocketsize version of "Hogwarts, A History" buried at the bottom, but James had never read it anyway, so he didn't think much of it. Under this was another book.

A date book.

Date books were almost always of use.

James pulled the book out of the drawer and set it on the desktop. It opened on its own accord ('_Bewitched, I suppose_,' James thought), to the present day. Halloween.

There were no notes for this day, so James tried to flip back some pages, but found he was unable to. He had already suspected that this would be the case (he remembered his father's old date book). James raised his wand, pointed it at the page in the book, and said "October twentieth," at random.

The pages flew back to the spot marked "October twentieth." There was nothing there, but at least James knew how it worked. He also knew, that unless he was very lucky, he wouldn't guess the day on which anything important happened. He tried a few more times for good measure.

On "September 1st" there was an obvious note: "Start of term" but nothing more damning than that. On the second of September, there were two reminders: "classes begin" and- at the bottom of the page- a few scribbled words.

"Honeydukes, meeting: 6pm." And next to that, scribbled more sloppily- "rescheduled."

Why would anyone hold a meeting in a candy shop?

James suddenly became conscious of his time limit, as he closed the date book, unable to think of any other important dates to check. And anyway, if there were anything vitally important, would anyone be stupid enough to put it in a date book?

Death Eaters weren't likely to have meetings in Honeydukes.

He had just over five minutes left in the time frame he had set up, and set to work searching the file cabinets.

However, all these were at least fairly disorganized- and most of them were _extremely_ disorganized. Papers that ought to have been filed under "first years" were in the "Advanced Level" section, and James saw two birthday cards in the "Third year, Werewolf Section" Folder.

Incidentally, both cards were addressed to "Damien" and not "Michael" (James had half expected them to be, after Lily's "information"), although the name was underscored several times in one of them.

But everything else in the cabinets seemed entirely useless. There was an empty potion bottle on top of it, but from the resonating odor, James knew it was merely a headache cure. He checked his watch and saw that he had at least two minutes left. He cast his eyes about the room.

There was nothing else remotely suspicious.

He felt all the walls to make sure they weren't hidden doors, and he looked behind the tapestry that hung over the desk, only to find- most disappointedly- a perfectly normal, mystery-free wall.

There were probably more dark artifacts in _McGonagall's_ office.

With time to spare, James made to exit the office. '_Didn't even need to use the invisibility cloak,'_ he sighed, patting his book bag. He locked the door from the inside, then left- half disappointed, half victorious. Evans's suspect was about as suspicious as James's owl. Or at least, Evans's suspect's _office_ was, which was practically the same thing.

James made his way downstairs, and, along the way, ran into several students. They were mostly in an odd way, but James couldn't blame them. After all, a hundred pumpkins filled with engorgement potions had just exploded on them, and that wasn't one of those things that people considered... normal.

The fifth floor was not deserted. About a dozen students at a time scurried up and down it; some of them cured of "the prank," some of them clearly not. However, the fifth floor _was_ deserted of Lily Evans. James checked his watch.

6:02

Had she been caught?

Merlin, he hoped not. She'd get in terrible trouble...

And she might... may... _could_... rat him out.

James had gotten in detention before. Hell, he'd landed himself in detention more times than most of the rest of the school put together. But those were for much more trivial things. He doubted a detention would be the sole punishment (he could get banned from Quidditch... lose Gryffindor countless points... get expelled!) for pulling a prank that affected the whole school so entirely.

6:04 and still no Evans.

James sighed, shut his eyes, and came to a conclusion that he like very much. He opened his eyes- not particularly wanting to walk about with them shut- and made quickly for the stairway. Here, he paused again, breathed again (deeply), and turned and full out sprinted down the stair.

He pushed past a few students, who were too occupied with discussing the exploding pumpkins to pay him any attention. When he came to the landing of the fourth floor, he skidded, nearly knocking someone over in the process, then turned and made full speed down to the end of the corridor where Praedam's office was located.

"Potter?"

James came to a sort of jump-stop. His heart missed a beat at the terrible recognition of the voice behind him. But he was in luck about one thing- his position in the hall was completely neutral... there was no evidence to suggest that he was going to Praedam's office...

Except, of course, that he was in the Dark Arts department and well past any of the other rooms.

And that this particular corridor was a dead end.

Damn it.

He turned slowly and saw Praedam limping toward him.

"You nearly knocked me off the stair over on the landing there, Potter," Praedam muttered, a little irately, a little suspiciously. James cursed his terrible luck.

And then he blessed his good luck.

If Praedam was there, than he couldn't have caught Lily... Evans.

"Sorry, sir..." James said hastily; "I was... running."

"I noticed. Where were you going?" He eyed James's surroundings suspiciously, apparently reaching the conclusion James had already apprehended.

"I... I don't really know," James replied lamely.

Praedam was in pace with the Head Boy by now, and with a wave of his wrinkled hand, signaled for him to follow him to his office.

"One always ought to know where they are going," he said simply.

"Yes, well... I was... was paying closer attention to where I was running _from_."

"Oh?"

"You see, Professor..." his voice became more easy, as a vague idea formed in his head. "I was trying to avoid getting caught."

"Getting caught?"

_'Merlin, he's thick!'_ James thought, though, with great effort, he managed not to roll his eyes. "Yes, you see..."

"One moment, Potter," Praedam interrupted, as they came to the door to the office. He pulled out a large ring of keys from his pocket and began searching through them. He located the proper one and jammed it into the keyhole. "Continue, Potter..."

"Well, Professor, Sir, I..."

"That's odd," interrupted Praedam again.

"What is sir?"

"The door was already unlocked..."

_'She forgot to lock it when she left. She forgot to lock it when she left... that's all_..." but no matter what James tried to tell himself, part of him was almost positive that Evans wasn't so thick as to forget something as important as relocking the door after she left.

"Must have forgotten..." Praedam began slowly... "No matter..." he reached out for the door handle; "you were saying, Potter?"

But James did not answer at first, for just as Praedam fiddled with the handle of the door, he would swear he heard a scraping from inside the office. His stomach did some sort of somersault-cartwheel-jumping-jack (all in one... if it is, indeed, possible) and he stuttered once more.

"I... I... Professor! Don't go in there!"

"Why ever not?"

"B-b-because I need to tell you somewhere more private."

"My dear boy, there is no where more private than my office. No one else goes in there, except for- on occasion- Dumbledore."

He pushed open the door, but James ran in front of him. For half a second, he saw, just around the opened door, a red head of hair. He barely registered this, before facing Praedam, who was standing confusedly on the threshold. His vision of the red head of hair and its owner was blocked by the open door.

"Whatever is the matter, Potter?"

Praedam stepped into the office after James, who was back-peddling in front of him. He (James) silently prayed that Lily had the common sense to duck under the desk at the very least, for though James was taller than Praedam, and impairing the Professor's clear vision of the desk, there was no doubt in the Head Boy's mind that he would see Lily very soon, if she did not hide.

He had to buy her a little bit of time.

"_I_ made all the pumpkins in the Great Hall explode!"

Surely, he had not just said that. Surely he was dreaming it. He could not have... he had _not just said that_!

Unfortunately, judging by the expression on Praedam's face... he had just said that.

"Y-you did?"

"Yes, sir... I'm sort of infamous that way, y'know," he said, sounding thoroughly remorseful. "But I _had_ to do it, sir! It wasn't just a silly prank, you know... I..."

"_W-w-why _exactly did you have to do it?" sputtered Praedam, eyes fixed on James.

_'Nice fix you've gotten yourself into, James Potter. Yes, why _did_ you have to do it? "Because I wanted time to search Silth's office, while Lily searched yours, because we... I suspected you might be a death eater, and she suspected Silth was." Oh yes, that will sound lovely...'_

Somehow, the message was lost in translation between brain and words, and became: "It's sort of complicated..."

"Well you have plenty of time to explain!" Praedam said firmly. Before James could do anything to prevent it, the Dark Arts teacher sidestepped him, and walked directly to his desk. James hardly dared to look.

Key word being "hardly."

He turned and saw Praedam sit down at his desk, shuffle some papers distractedly, and then look expectantly up at James. There was no sign of Lily. He exhaled, and concentrated fully on lying convincingly.

"Professor, I did it because..." inspiration hit... "...for a girl!"

A confused look seeped in over Praedam's wrinkled face. "A girl?"

"Y-yes?"

"Well don't _you_ know?"

"Yes. Yes, for a girl."

"What girl?"

The first girl that came to James's mind was Lily. _Ya right._ Even if the idea hadn't made James want to be sick, Praedam wouldn't have bought it. The second to come to mind was Eden. The thought of James and Eden made him want to be sick too... she was more his sister than girlfriend-opportunity.

So he said the third girl that came to mind... rather before he had the chance to think about it.

"Redival Shelley."

Uh-oh...

"The sixth year?"

"Um... yeah? Yes. Redival. Shelley. Yes."

"Are you certain?" He was half-laughing.

"I hope so! I could get suspended if I'm not..."

Praedam laughed.

"So please... I know it's a lot to ask but..."

"You don't want me to report you."

"Yes, sir."

"How in the name of all that is bewitched did you expect to get a girl's attention by pulling a prank? Actually, I know for a fact that Miss Shelley's left foot was three times its usual size before Slughorn had the antidote... I helped administer it to her, you see..."

"She mentioned something to Remus about wishing the Marauders- that's Sirius, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and I- pulled more pranks like we used to..." _He_ thought the lie was well-executed at the very least. He'd sounded nervous and bashful... completely false. McGonagall would never have fallen for it... but Praedam didn't know him very well...

It was a risk. An utter gamble. James was beginning to wish he'd taken some of the Felix Felicis that Sirius had been brewing. Really, now... the "crush-card?" It didn't even make sense! Merlin, he was stupid... Praedam would never fall for it... he would see right through it... he would...

"Alright, Potter..."

Buy it?

"I wont report you," Praedam continued, a smile playing on his lips, not dissimilar to one James would expect to see on Sirius, if he was in a mischievous mood; "but I ask one thing in return..."

"A-alright..."

James walked down the Dark Arts department five minutes later, feeling simultaneously exceptionally lucky and exceptionally apprehensive. Praedam's particular favor had been... odd... to say the least. No, it wasn't _that_ sort of favor. It was a completely different sort. But why would a teacher...?

"_Redival Shelley_?" came a sneering voice from behind him.

James jumped and turned quickly. At first, he thought he saw someone standing a few paces behind him. Then, he was sure that he saw no one. Finally, looking very carefully, he saw the vague outline of a girl, except that she was almost completely camouflaged with her surroundings.

"Red?" James murmured uncertainly.

The Invisible-Girl walked- or moved in some manner- so that she was standing next to James, though he could not make her face out with certainty. Then, before he could see what the Invisible-Girl was doing, she was doing something with her right arm and whispering something that James did not hear.

A moment later, a tip of red appeared precisely five feet, eight and one half inches off the floor. From that point, more red appeared below it, then some flesh color, then a spark of jade green, then a little pink, and very soon, the completely visible Lily Evans was standing next to him, eyebrows raised and a half-smirk on her face.

"Redival Shelley?" she asked again.

"I liked you better invisible," was all James said, and he continued to walk.

"'To impress a girl?'" Lily quoted, half-laughing now. "Praedam _fell_ for that?"

They were on the stair by now, but James sent her a "Shhh! He might hear you!" look anyway. "Well I wouldn't have had to say that if you could tell time better, Evans," snapped James in reply. "You already had an extra two minutes... but you were in there for bloody forever!"

"I happened to have stumbled on something interesting," Lily answered huffily. "And what do you mean I had an extra two minutes."

James explained briefly about the extra few minutes he had forgotten to inform her about earlier. "So what in the bloody hell possessed you to go romping about his office- perfectly visible- for a half an hour!"

"You're exaggerating," Lily said coldly. "And anyway, like I said... I found something interesting."

"What?"

Lily paused, smirking uncontrollably now. "This," she said. And she pulled from underneath her cloak the small, leather box she had found in Praedam's office. James eyed it curiously.

"What's inside?"

"I don't know... haven't opened it yet. I found it buried at the bottom of his trunk."

"Putting the key to the trunk back below the _false bottom _of the drawer where Praedam hid it."

"Ah. Well... let's see it, then."

"Not here," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "Somewhere where we wont be bothered." They hurried down the stairwell with no particular destination in mind. "So... _Redival Shelley_, eh?"

"Oh shut it. Would you rather it if I had said _you_?"

"Merlin, no. Don't even..."

"I won't."

"Good."

"Good."

Another of those damned awkward, irritable silences made itself comfortable between the two Head Students.

"How did you get out?" asked Lily, as they randomly trekked across the second floor corridor. "I mean, did Praedam really fall for the 'you did it to impress a girl' rubbish?"

"Maybe I _did _do it to impress a girl."

Lily raised her eyebrows.

"But I didn't," admitted James. "You were there, weren't you, though? You know what happened..."

"No. I could've sworn he saw through the disillusionment charm for a second and left right after the 'Redival Shelley' bit."

"He told me I owed him a favor- no, not _that_ kind of a favor, Red- get the mind out of the gutter."

"I wasn't thinking _that,_ and don't call me 'Red.'"

"Who's calling you 'Red?' Anyway... he said he might need me to pull a stunt again sometime."

Lily stopped walking. "You're joking."

"Nope."

Lily ran her hand through her thick ginger hair, then covered her eyes with said hand, as if she had a headache.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh Merlin," she sighed; "don't you see?"

"Don't I see what?" James demanded.

Lily sighed again. "He's not the death eater after all... though I admit, I rather thought he might be for a bit... Delilah... the cloaks... the letter... the key... oh damn it all."

Frustrated, Lily leaned against the wall. James could not have been more lost if he had tried.

"What in the bloody hell are you talking about? Who's Delilah?"

"Never mind. It doesn't matter. This box doesn't matter." She let her feet give out and her back slid down the wall, until she was sitting on the stone floor of the corridor, resting against the cold stone behind her.

"I repeat: what in the bloody hell are you talking about?"

Lily sighed once more. "Praedam's not a death eater. You just put yourself in his debt for nothing..."

"How do you know he's not?" demanded James, stepping forward and standing directly in front of her.

"Did you remember Byron Eddleton?" Lily asked vaguely, looking up at the Head Boy.

"Name's familiar," shrugged James.

"He was murdered by Voldemort years ago. When I was... we were in second year. He was one of the earliest... all over the newspapers..."

"Right, I remember. He was the Death Eater..."

"Yes, yes, but for a while, everyone thought he was murdered because he was high up in the Ministry of Magic."

"Right, _and_...?"

"When they found out he was a death eater," Lily continued, in a far-off voice; "they couldn't figure out why Voldemort would kill him. Then they remembered the witness who had ID'd him as being responsible for a muggle killing... the reason they'd known he was a death eater to begin with."

"What does all this have to do with...?"

"Voldemort killed him because he had botched a job," Lily said stonily. "With a threat like that, a death eater would be careful not to be stupid."

A glimmer of understanding began to dawn on James.

Lily continued: "The Death Eater at Hogwarts... whoever it is... knows what we heard in the forest, knows that our memories were modified- probably modified them himself-, and knows to keep an eye on us... especially you with your 'rules are suggested' attitude."

"Hey! It was _your_ idea to pull a prank," James reminded her. Lily ignored this.

"And unless he was just _pretending_ to let you off the hook," the Head Girl continued, "which is possible, but unlikely, than Praedam is not suspicious of you at all."

"And by connection," James finished glumly, "not a death eater."

He sat down a few feet away from the Head Girl, leaning against the wall, exactly as Lily was.

"Where are we now, then?" she asked, sighing.

"Clueless in the second floor corridor," James replied.

"We should be happy, I suppose," said Lily, presently; "I mean, we don't _want_ there to be a spy at Hogwarts, do we?"

"No."

"What happened with Silth anyway?"

"A whole lot of nothing. From the information you gave, I half expected to find Grossman locked in the closet."

"That's probably what I expected," Lily admitted. "I thought Silth was responsible for Grossman's disappearance. That's the only reason that I wanted you to pull the prank- so that I could search Silth's office for damning evidence."

James grinned. "Foiled by me."

"Mhm." She didn't sound particularly broken up about it. "Of course, he isn't entirely let off the hook, yet..."

"Guilty until proven innocent, Red?"

"Don't call me that."

"I won't."

"Liar."

"Well... yeah..."

The familiar awkwardness seized Lily once more. She stood slowly, not wanting to be seen sitting so closely and comfortably with Potter. She picked up the box from Praedam's office as well.

"So, to reiterate," James was saying, ignoring her new stance, "we've discovered that Silth is disorganized, Praedam is either legitimate or lethally thickheaded, I am apparently mad about Redival Shelley, and covering the entire Great Hall with an engorgement potion buys about fifteen minutes."

"_And_ Praedam has a fetish for pranks and antiques," Lily added. "I'll see you around, Potter."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

One would think that after having planned a prank, searched offices, lied, and swapped conspiracy theories together, Lily and James would get along with each other better. One would think- in this case- incorrectly.

"Merlin... someone _please_ shut them up," groaned Eden to Sirius, Remus, and Peter on the evening of the Monday after Halloween. They were studying for Transfiguration. Actually, they were talking about Quidditch while having their Transfiguration books out... or they had been, before the sounds of Lily and James arguing their heads off had filled the air irreversibly.

"Shut it, you two!" said Sirius, knowing it was futile.

They did not comply.

"Anyone know a good curse?" sighed Remus, rubbing his forehead.

"'Avada Kedavra' is sounding pretty good at the moment," Sirius remarked irritably.

Lily and James heard none of this. At the moment, they were arguing about someone named Molly Clay and something that had happened years ago. However, Molly Clay, who was a Hufflepuff sixth year, had surprisingly little to do with the actual reason for the headaches of the Gryffindors around them. Really, the whole thing had to do with Grossman's disappearance. Or, more specifically, with her reappearance.

The Day after Halloween, Grossman was back in her place at the staff table for supper. Naturally, this inspired a lengthy discussion between the Head Boy and Girl at their Head meeting on Saturday (McGonagall had been quite displeased when the two had forgotten to show up for their meeting on Friday evening and insisted they come on Saturday instead).

Somehow, and neither was quite sure how, their "discussion" had erupted- as usual- into an argument... something about lax behavior and being a control freak.

And so, the Head Boy and Girl were once more at war.

About everything that popped into their bloody heads.

"Oh! I've got it!" exclaimed Sirius, inspired suddenly. "Hey, Prongs! Your detention is in five minutes..."

"What detention?" asked James ferociously, still glaring at Lily, who was smirking about something as she walked up to her dormitory, followed by Lexi. She had apparently won the argument...

"The detention you got for bewitching the suits of armor to chase Mrs. Norris on Thursday."

James rolled his eyes and stalked to the table where the Marauders and Eden were sitting. He picked up the book bag that he had left there when he had got up to argue with Lily, and stormed out of the dormitory.

Eden sighed, resting her chin in her hand and doodling in her Transfiguration book. "If everyone didn't like them so much, they would never get away with it."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

A/N: the wait wasn't _too_ long, was it? No, of course not. There _is _a point to the last little segment there... namely, to build up to Chapter 12, which is, as of now, called: "November." Lovely title, eh? I'm hoping to get to the chapters about Christmas before the end of December, but... I may not. Reviews _do_ help me post faster, though. There wasn't as large a gap between 10 and 11, and I got more reviews for 10 than I have for any other. So be a love and help me update :-P

A million thanks and cookies to the anonymous reviewers, **Danni** (hopefully, the suspense didn't get you:-P, lyl) and the **_Bloody Brilliant_ Tasz **(you're so sweet :-P).

Happy Reading,

Cheers

-Jewels-


	12. November

_A/N:_ you reviewers are lovely! And here is the second chapter I promised BEFORE Christmas! Ha! And you didn't think I could do it! Bwahahaha!

Not as much mystery in this chapter, sadly, but we'll get to that soon enough. We need some character development. LoL. For those wondering, LJ-ness is coming soon! (in conservative doses, sadly).

_Recap of last time: _James helps Lily pull a prank to cause a diversion while the two search Praedam and Silth's respective offices. Lily is almost caught, James lies on her behalf to Praedam, and the final evidence is inconclusive about Silth, but makes Praedam seem pretty damned innocent. Aw shucks. The two proceed to drive each other and their friends crazy with incessant bickering. **New Characters from ch. 11:** _Delilah_ (mentioned in a letter to Praedam), _Elliot_ (wrote said letter to Praedam), and _"Dee"_ (signed a picture of herself and Silth: "love, Dee").

Jeez, I almost forgot! **Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Dear TASZ! HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY TO YOU! (_and many more….)_** And here is...

**Chapter 12- "November"**

"_Let's have some new clichés..."_ –Samuel Goldwyn (The Great!)

Twelve-year-old second year, Lily Evans held in a blush. She hated blushing, because it made her look rather like a tomato, what with her violently red bob of hair. She was not particularly fond of tomatoes anyway (except for, on occasion, the little ones in her salad).

"What did he say?" pleaded Alice Prewett and Eden Dearborn- fellow Gryffindor second years- in unison. The three girls sat at breakfast one Monday morning in late November.

"Nothing," said Lily in reply; "never mind it. Okay?"

"No! Not okay!" insisted Eden adamantly; "tell us, Leeeely!" She stretched the name unnaturally long.

Lily rolled her startlingly green eyes as she served herself potatoes and a biscuit. "No," she said simply.

"Oh I know it," teased Eden, tearing a bit of her blueberry muffin and consuming it playfully; "he fancies you, doesn't he?"

"You're sounding like one of those first year gossips, Eden," Lily pointed out coolly.

"Johnny Sharp fancies Lily Evans," murmured Eden in a singsong voice. Lily rolled her eyes again, but said nothing.

"C'mon, Lily," Alice begged adorably, trying a different- probably less annoying- tactic. "What did he say?"

Lily sighed, giving in, and the other two knew it. "It was... something about... flying?" she said uncertainly.

"Flying," repeated the other two.

"Mhm," said Lily, with a little more confidence.

"Well what _about_ flying?" Eden persisted.

"Nope."

"Leeeely!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Well it doesn't matter if you tell us," Eden said; "we know he fancies you."

"Him and every other boy, first through third year," Alice added. "Except for the ones who like Eden."

"Ya right," chorused blonde and redhead. "Shut up, Eden, or I'll sock you one," the latter added.

"She will, too," Alice warned; "she knocked Eddie Bones down last week."

"Yeah, well... he made fun of my hair," Lily said, attacking her potatoes savagely; "my head doesn't look like it's on fire, does it?"

"No," said the other two, without hesitation; "of course not!" added Alice.

"And anyway," Eden continued. "It's only because _he_ fancies you too."

"Oh he does not!"

"Does too!" said Eden merrily. "And so does Remus, and that third year bloke... Elijah What's-It..."

"And Leander Vireo- the chap from Ravenclaw who tried to duel Sirius last Tuesday," Alice agreed. "I don't fancy him much," she added; "he called Rachel Brossle a... well... never mind, but he called her one!"

At that moment, a clumsy student nearby accidentally knocked over the pumpkin juice, and Alice busied herself with helping him clean it up. Eden took the opportunity to lean over and whisper in Lily's ear.

"But you and I know none of them mean anything to _you_, Lily," she said slyly; "_You_ only have eyes for James Potter!"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

Head Girl duties were taking a toll on Lily. If they were merely taken by themselves, Lily did not suppose that they would be so bad, but as it was, she was beginning to consider them a bloody waste of time. All the teachers had conveniently decided that this was the time to load on all the homework for the unfortunate N.E.W.T. students, which didn't really help her schedule either.

Neither did the fact that Alice and Lexi seemed to be caught in "relationship issues" (as Eden- somewhat scathingly, somewhat pityingly- put it) with their respective boyfriends, and needed at least one of their best friends present a good deal of the time. Since Alice would get no pity from Lexi, and Lexi very little from Alice, it meant that the two required Lily's and Eden's ears to rant to every so often.

And then there were the little tasks that the McGonagall and the likes expected of Potter and her. Even when the Head Boy and Girl _weren't_ required to work together, Lily was sure James was trying to get the better of her in any way he could. And McGonagall was _clearly_ on _his_ side.

How was it fair that _she_ had had to work with Filch on his "necessary supply 'wish list'" and Potter had gotten to work with Hagrid?

To speak nothing of the meetings, which had become a sort of torture process. McGonagall did not supervise the whole thing, which left many an opportunity for the two to yell at each other in every way possible. They'd actually drawn their wands during the mid-November meeting, but had fortunately remembered that McGonagall would be coming to dismiss them any second before they had actually started hexing each other.

But one afternoon in late November, Lily found herself shockingly unengaged. She sat by the lake with Eden, shivering, but enjoying the chilly weather nevertheless. It was nice to be worrying about things of no consequence, like Professor Slughorn's Christmas Party, rather than who was a death eater and who was not.

"Are you going by yourself?" Eden wanted to know, in reference to aforementioned Christmas Party. She twirled a lock of her shoulder-length hair idly, staring out at the glassy lake.

"I guess," said Lily, shrugging; "I don't imagine Elijah fancying the idea of me dating someone else as well."

"I do," Eden replied; "but it's awful selfish for him to make you go alone just because he's... well... your boyfriend."

"Mmm... terribly selfish," Lily returned sarcastically.

"Well who _would_ you go with, if you were going with someone?"

"Elijah."

"Besides him."

"I dunno... whoever... it depends on who would ask... if anyone would."

"Stop being humble, Red. It's annoying. You're only problem would be picking from the massive selection."

"Oh yes. All of them lined up to ask me to put in a good word for them to you."

"What would you do if Remus asked you?"

"Ask him why he's asked me _and_ Dora Leadwood."

"You're too practical for your own good, you know."

"Yes, I would say so. What would _you_ do if Remus asked you?"

"Die of shock."

Lily laughed appreciatively. "What if Sirius asked you?"

Eden rolled her eyes. "He's going with..." she put on a face of utmost disgust... "Rachel Brossle..."

"I thought Rachel was with Paul Montreal..."

"They broke up," Eden explained dispassionately.

"But I thought Rach hated Sirius after their break-up last year."

"She did," Eden said coldly. "But they're back together... the most sickening couple on the planet. He could at least have the dignity to pick Redival Shelley... or that odd Ravenclaw girl... but Rachel Brossle..." she made a face. Eden was not particularly fond of Rachel.

"You're just jealous."

"Oh, yeah. Right," she said dismissively. "But I get to play mean too. What would you do if... James asked you?"

Lily laughed again. "Where have you been for the last three weeks? Potter _hates_ me, remember? He'd sooner ask Snape out!"

"He asked you out before," Eden reminded her unhelpfully.

"Two years ago, yeah... and maybe you've forgotten the 'me pouring pumpkin juice on him' and 'comparing him to the giant squid' episodes..."

"Nothing says 'I love you' like an icy cold drink to wash out of your hair.'

"Oh, certainly."

"But why _do_ you hate him so much, Red?"

"'Cos he's arrogant and insensitive."

"Well yeah, but besides that..."

"That's like asking why you and Sirius flirt, E. We just _do_."

"I know why," said Eden slyly; "'Cos you used to like him!"

"For about two weeks."

"Yeah, and then he asked you out!"

"About _three years later_, E! And you might notice," Lily added, rolling her eyes; "that I don't hate every guy who has asked me out!"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

"So Johnny Sharp offered to teach you to play Quidditch," Eden murmured uncertainly as Lily and she made their way to their second year Potions class.

"Mhm," replied Lily, nodding. "Should I say 'yes?'"

"More importantly," said Eden, "should you tell him you already know all about Quidditch?"

"No, definitely not. I'd be _way_ too embarrassed."

"Well then say 'yes!' shrugged Eden. "Worst case scenario: you fall off the broom and die."

"What _would_ I do without you, Eden Dearborn?" Lily said sarcastically.

"Fall of a broom and die, most likely. Hello, Professor."

The two girls came to the Potions Classroom, where several other students in the class had gathered and Professor Slughorn was just about to open the door to the classroom.

"Hello," replied Slughorn cheerily, as he let the students in. "How are Madams Evans and Dearborn today?"

"Good enough," was the simultaneous reply.

"And you'll both be coming to the Christmas party, I'm sure," Slughorn continued, smiling. "Neither of you signed on to return to your homes for the holidays."

"Nope," said Lily. "I'm going to a party in the village."

Slughorn looked as if he almost believed her for half a moment, but was over it quickly. "You're not even _allowed_ in the village yet."

"Yeah, well..."

"But if you were a Slytherin, I could have given you permission to..."

"Dream on, Professor," interrupted Lily, smirking. She was about to enter the classroom with Eden, when she heard a voice calling her name down the corridor.

"Lily! Hey Lily!"

The redhead turned to see a tallish boy with curly brown hair hurrying towards her. "Oh... um... Professor, can I...?"

"Two minutes," said Slughorn nodding.

"Thanks a lot. I'll be right there, Eden." Eden entered the potions classroom and Slughorn followed, leaving Lily and the curly haired boy, one Johnny Sharp, alone in the corridor. Once the door had closed to the classroom, Lily said: "Hi, Johnny."

"Hi, Lily," said Johnny Sharp, as Lily blushed slightly and he turned into a radish. "Er... I was wondering if... if you'd thought about what I'd asked earlier and if you wanted to... you know- the Quidditch thing..."

Lily's eyes fell on the messy black hair of James Potter- another second year- as he, and his best friend, Sirius Black, hurried down the Potions department, late as usual. She had a moment's indecision, then said- just as James and Sirius entered the Potions classroom- "Sure, Johnny."

"Well... um... I'll see you later, then, Lily," said Johnny, looking as if Christmas had come early.

"Yeah. See you, Johnny!" she responded brightly.

Lily entered the classroom as Johnny went the other direction, and took a seat next to Eden and Alice (the latter had entered separately.)

"Well?" demanded Eden in a whisper, as Slughorn began to teach the class.

"I said 'yes,'" Lily whispered in reply.

"To what?" asked Alice, excited anyway. "What did you say to what?"

Eden filled Alice in on all the details in a quiet voice, with occasional help from Lily in adding details of Johnny's romantics. None of the three girls noticed James Potter adding ingredients into his cauldron just next to them.

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

"'Morning, Professor," said Lily brightly to Slughorn, as she and her friends entered the Advanced Potions classroom.

"Good morning, Red," said Slughorn. Apparently he- like the majority of those on speaking terms with Lily- had picked up on Potter's nickname. "And how goes it with the would-be Slytherin?"

"I don't know. How _are_ you, Professor?" replied Lily audaciously.

Slughorn shook his balding head at the Head Girl, as he closed the door behind the last of the seventh year students. "Always ready for me, aren't you?"

"Mhm."

"Well, class," said Slughorn, in a different tone, as he walked to the front of the classroom. "Today, we will be working on a very difficult Potion, but one I'm sure you are familiar with." He pulled out his wand from his pocket and tapped the blank blackboard once. It spun around a few times, and, when it resumed its original position, it was covered in writing.

At the top of the board was the word: "Veritaserum."

"Yes, class," said Slughorn; "Veritaserum. One of the most complex Potions you will encounter in this class, or in the rest of your careers as Potions-brewers." He smirked slightly. "I hope to reach a much more complex and potent version of the Truth Potion by the end of January, but as of now, we will be working on a much simpler, less powerful one. Please take out your books..."

The classroom was filled with the familiar sound of everyone scrambling about to get his or her copies of Advanced Potions-Making.

"Now," continued Slughorn; "who here does _not_ know what Veritaserum is?"

No ne raised their hand.

"Good," said Slughorn; "I would be very worried if it was otherwise." He chuckled. "Now, if everyone would open to the section on Truth Potions... what page does that begin on?"

"Two twenty-nine," said Lexi in a bored voice. There were only three to each table, and while Lily, Eden, and Alice had one, she sat between her boyfriend, Frank, and Paul Montreal at the one just next to it.

"Yes. Alright then, turn to two twenty-nine... I believe there is a list of ingredients there. Line up as usual to take what you need from the cupboard..."

Those seated in the front were the first to line up, as was the official procedure of Slughorn's class. Lily, Eden, Alice, and Lexi- at her table next to them- were closer to the back, and it was a good ten minutes before they had all of their ingredients.

It was another five minutes before they had sorted it out and were able to begin brewing their potions, but Lily didn't mind. Snape was in the very back of the classroom and had not gotten his ingredients yet, and he was the only one who could beat her in the potion-making department.

Once everyone had begun, Slughorn walked about, inspecting them. He nodded or gave the occasional critique, stopped to chat with a few of them, but did not come to Lily's table till last.

"Nicely done, Alexandria, as usual... careful there, Alice... good, good, E... and excellent as always, Lily."

"Don't make me blush," Lily said sardonically, as she concentrated on stirring her cauldron anti-clockwise the exact amount of times.

"So," continued Slughorn casually, for he was fully aware that Lily could brew and converse at the same time. "Are you staying at Hogwarts for Christmas?"

"Mhm. Mum wanted me to come home since Petunia- she's my sister- has an engagement party on Christmas Eve, but when she figured out Petunia wouldn't allow me to come, she gracefully hinted that I could stay here if I wanted to."

"Watch your fingers, E," advised Slughorn, as Eden chopped something rather up to add to her cauldron. "So- you'll be coming to the Christmas party here, then?" he added, smiling to Lily.

"I dunno," the Head Girl joked; "I hear McGonagall's throwing a wild one too..."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure," agreed Slughorn dryly. "But I think you'll rather enjoy the party this year, Red. I have a few surprised for you... though one of them is for E as well..."

"Do tell," said Eden distractedly, as she began to stir her own cauldron anti-clockwise.

"That would ruin the surprise," remarked Slughorn. "But I'm sure they'll be enjoyed by all. And..." he hesitated... "Are you bringing anyone, Lily?"

"Nah- I'm still with Elijah, and he's not exactly coming, is he?"

"Ah, Elijah Trent... he was a clever student, though only average in Potions... he scraped an "E" on his O.W.L.s though... was never anything to you or Snape, of course, but Flitwick tells me he was magnificent in Charms."

"And he wasn't in Slytherin," Lily reminded him, smirking.

"Nobody's perfect," shrugged Slughorn; "how many of those have you added, Lily?"

"Only two, don't worry."

"Good, good. But I had a rather clever idea for the Christmas Eve party, you know."

"What's that?" humored Lily.

"I thought it would be interesting if everyone who comes, brings a ghost."

"What?"

"A ghost. You know... the dead things..."

"I know what a ghost is. I just can't imagine everyone being thrilled at having to bring a _dead_ date..."

"No, no," said Slughorn dismissively; "you could bring a live guest as well... but you have to bring a ghost along too... there are plenty in the castle for the students that I invite, I should think- and it would be a challenge for outsiders to have to dig one up."

"No pun intended," through in Eden, not looking up from the directions she was reading.

"What would the theme be?" asked Lily, as she tapped her cauldron twice, and lowered the heat of the fire under it. "'Oh Come All Ye Dead' perhaps?"

"You might have something there," Slughorn said; "Oh my! Watch out there, Mr. Pettigrew!" the potions master hurried across the classroom to where Peter's cauldron was emitting flames and magnificent columns of black smoke.

"Surprises, eh?" murmured Eden; "maybe he's inviting your idol, Lilith... Who _is_ your idol, anyway?"

"You are, E. Now shut up or you'll mess up you're veritaserum, and I'll have to sock you one!"

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

"I dunno, Eden," sighed the twelve-year-old redhead sadly; "I mean, I've always thought it's sort of pathetic to date when you're _twelve_. It's not like I'm going to marry Johnny or anything. What's the point, anyway?"

"It's not a date," said Rachel Brossle, who was also gathered in the second year girls' dormitory, along with Lily and Eden. "It's a 'Johnny-teaches-you-how-to-play-Quidditch'... thing."

"Even though you already _know_ how," Eden pointed out.

"Well... yeah..."

"Sounds lovely," said Lily sarcastically; "why did I have to go and say 'yes' anyway?"

"Oh it'll be fine," said Eden definitively; "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"He could not show up and I would be utterly humiliated?"

"True."

"I could be seriously _scarred_, because I dated when I was bloody _twelve_ and be a drama queen for the _rest of my life_!"

"Become?"

"Shut up, Eden."

"It'll be alright," said Rachel Brossle confidently, as she sat at the vanity, testing make-up. "I mean, he's just teaching you how to play Quidditch!"

"Even though you already know."

"_Eden!_"

"Shutting up, now."

Lily and Eden walked to dinner that evening thinking of anything other than her date with Johnny Sharp the _following_ evening. When their conversation did wander to Quidditch, Eden was skillful enough to keep it to the fact that Gryffindor was the front-runner for the Cup at the moment, despite its unusual players: there hadn't been _two_ second years on the starting line-up in years.

But just as Eden was about to tell Lily the day of the next match, laughter echoed down the hall, and the girls exchanged curious looks. They sped up slightly, and as they rounded the corner, saw a group of first, second, and third years gathered, most of them roaring in laughter.

As they approached the group, however, someone behind them called Eden's name. She turned to see Alex Shaw, an Asian girl also in Lily's house and year, though Lily did not know her very well, looking relieved at the sight of Eden.

"Eden, McGonagall wants to see you- I've been around the castle three times over trying to find you..."

Eden turned back and began to follow Alex, and then stopped and turned to Lily, saying: "tell me what this is all about when I get back." She didn't like to be one to miss out on any excitement.

Lily nodded and went further into the crowd of underclassman. With great difficulty, she got to a point where she could see what the source of the commotion was. A few feet away, was a first year Ravenclaw girl that Lily vaguely knew as Molly Clay.

However, Molly Clay was not the only one who seemed to be causing the excitement. James Potter was standing there as well; however, while Molly- who would be called "plain" by Alice Prewett and "ugly" by Rachel Brossle- looked sincerely distraught, James- who would be called "cute" by a seventeen-year-old girl, and "cute" (in a completely different sense) by an eleven-year-old girl- was smirking uncontrollably.

Lily raised her eyebrows.

"No, I'm serious, Clay," James was saying gleefully; "how many fly wings are in a boil cure? You know everything, don't you?"

Molly glared, tears streaming down her face.

"Awww... what's the matter? Snape got your tongue? I bet darling Severus knows how many there are... should I go ask him?"

"Leave me alone!" sobbed Molly, though it came closer to: "lemmeuhloon!"

"What was that? I didn't here quite hear you... speak up!" he raised his wand and pronounced proudly: "Sonorous!"

Molly glared again, but said nothing.

"Speak up, Clay! _Declimita_!"

"I don't want to say anything!" came Molly's voice- booming through the corridor. She clasped a hand over her mouth, as if she had not been able to avoid the exclamation.

"Poor little Clay doesn't want to say anything... she didn't mind talking to _darling Severus_, but..."

Molly let out another sob that echoed. James laughed, and most of the others did too.

"How many, Clay? _How many fly wings go in a boil cure? _You'll need to know this later..." James raised his wand, once more. "Ver..."

"NONE!"

It was not Molly speaking, however; it was Lily. She stepped up, right in front of James's wand and repeated herself in a more normal tone, hands on her hips and green eyes blazing. "None, James. You put _porcupine quills_ in a boil cure, not fly wings. Now _leave her alone_."

Everyone stared in absolute shock.

"F-Friend of yours, Lily?" he asked, trying to sound indifferent, though it sounded as if he was having difficulty articulating anything. His arm fell back to his side.

"Stop picking on her!"

"She's friends with _Snape_," James said angrily; "I heard her saying all sorts of awful stuff about Alex Shaw to him- just because Alex is a muggleborn!"

"That's a lie!" cried Molly- though her voice was much louder than she intended it to be, due to the "sonorous" charm.

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

James raised his wand again, a little to the left- around Lily. She stepped in front of it again.

"Stop it, James!" snapped Lily again. "You have no right to... just because... just because you're on the damned Quidditch team doesn't mean you can do whatever the hell you want! You have no right to curse her like that!"

"And you have no right to tell me what I have the right and what I don't have the right to do!"

The other students were watching in rapt interest. No one had ever yelled at James Potter before- except for McGonagall or Flitwick or someone like that. He was well liked by _everyone_. He was probably the only second year that could get away with chatting with fifth and sixth years.

Lily did not care one bit at the moment.

"Go away, Potter..." she said. "Leave her alone, alright? It's none of your business who she talks with anyway! You don't _own the school!_"

"You should be _thanking _me, Lily! _You're_ a muggleborn!"

"I didn't say anything about..." no one was really paying attention to Molly Clay anymore, so anyone that did hear much of what she said up to "about", did not hear after it.

"Liar!" exclaimed James.

He sidestepped Lily so quickly that, before she had time to react, he had already raised his wand once more, aimed at Molly, and shouted: "Verruca!" Boils burst out over the first year's arms and face immediately.

Lily did not have time to draw her wand, and- having spent more of her life as a muggle than as a witch- did the thing that came most naturally to her. Before she knew exactly what she was doing, Lily had punched James Potter square in the jaw...

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

"What do you think they would do to me if I killed those two?" Eden groaned to Lexi as the two girls sat, rubbing their foreheads, by the Common Room fire one evening.

"Give you an Order of Merlin, first class," replied Lexi, rolling her eyes. "And make you Minister of Magic."

"Well then there's nothing stopping me," Eden said, drawing her wand and pointing it at the arguing figures of the Head Boy and Girl.

"She's your best friend," Lexi pointed out sadly. "And he's one of your best guy-friends."

Eden glared at Lexi. "You ruin everything, Girl."

"Let's go upstairs."

"Good idea."

The two retreated to the seventh year girls' dormitory, speculating on whether Madame Pomfrey had run out of headache tonics yet. Lily joined them shortly, looking frazzled an annoyed.

"Why Lily," said Eden in mock surprise; "when did you get back from dinner? We haven't seen or heard from you in ages."

She was met by a glare as Lily picked up a book and lay down on Alice's unoccupied bed to read it: or rather, to glare at it. Presently, her eyes began to hurt, and she sat up, hoping to talk about anything _other_ than James Potter.

"How's Frank, Lex?"

Lexi raised her thin, dark eyebrows skeptically; "Since when do you volunteer to hear us rant?"

"I'm your friend, Lexi. It's my responsibility to listen to your rants!"

"She's just sucking up. Don't trust her, Lex" advised Eden, who was flipping through a Quidditch magazine idly.

"Frank's fine," Lexi replied, ignoring Eden. A faint, completely uncharacteristic blush came to her cheeks.

"Oh my gosh! Eden, Eden- look! She blushed!"

Eden tossed aside her magazine and rushed to Lexi's side. "She blushed?" Eden cried dramatically; "_blushed_? I may die of shock. Merlin! She blushed! Are you sure it isn't a fever?"

Lily, who had also rushed to Lexi's side, felt her cheeks as if checking for a temperature. "She feels normal, E," Lily said seriously. "Which only means..."

They paused, looking amazedly at Lexi, who rolled her eyes.

"_You like Frank?"_ blonde and redhead chorused in surprise.

"We are going _out_ with Frank," Lexi pointed out.

"That doesn't mean anything,' said Lily dismissively; "just look at E!"

"Hey!"

"You know it's true."

"Is not. And shut up."

There was a pause, as Lily retreated to Alice's bed again, and Eden to the desk. "_So_..." said the former, presently; "_do_ you?"

"Do we what?" exhaled Lexi.

"Do you like Frank?" demanded Lily.

The unfortunate girl sighed reluctantly. "We don't know."

"You _do_, don't you?" Eden asked keenly. "I mean, non-platonically. You actually _like_ likehim. Romantically. Like you're supposed to. That's it, isn't it?"

Lexi rolled her eyes again. "We don't know," she repeated.

The other two gave her skeptical looks. "Okay, maybe. We think so, but... maybe."

"She does," said Eden with certainty.

"We're so proud of you!" said Lily sincerely.

Lexi nodded, shrugging. "If you say so."

"Well don't sound so ecstatic, Lex," Eden accused sarcastically. "You'll frighten us."

"Well, we've been going out with him since..." she broke off... "well... for a while... and it's only now that we've actually started to fancy him... it's odd, isn't it?"

"Maybe he just grew on you," shrugged Eden.

Lexi nodded. "Took us long enough, didn't it?"

"Mhm. And now you can have the satisfaction of knowing you're not being a complete and utter bitch by leading him on."

"Thank you for that insightful and heartening perspective, E."

"You're welcome."

Lily was at least as satisfied as Lexi was. Now, at the very least, she would know that her friend would have a date to Slughorn's party (Lexi's unquestionable genius- even if she was undeniably lazy- had always gained her an invitation to Slughorn's Christmas party; that had been how Lily had first become friends with her), even if she, Lily, would not have one herself.

Merlin, that sounded self-centered even in her head!

_**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO**_

"You _punched_ James Potter?"

"I'd rather not talk about it actually," the second year replied irately.

"Alright, alright. But... you seriously did?"

"Eden!"

"Okay, shutting up, now."

On Friday evening, the two twelve-year-old girls walked down to the Entrance Hall together. Lily insisted that she would wait outside to meet Johnny by herself, but she didn't mind Eden escorting her halfway.

"So tonight you get taught '_Quidditch,_'" Eden said, pronouncing the last word especially.

"Eden- have you ever _met_ Johnny Sharp? He's not at _all_ like that."

"I know, Lilith. I was just kidding."

"'Lilith?'" repeated Lily. "What's that about?"

"I dunno. Sounded right though. 'Lily' to 'Lilith' and all that."

"Riiight."

"Just go with it."

They came to the Entrance Hall, and Eden, wishing Lily sincere 'good luck' departed into the Great Hall, where some early-comers were beginning dinner. Lily, meanwhile, headed out of doors. It was not yet dark, but would be soon, but Lily did not mind bending curfew. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team would be holding practice on the pitch, so it was not as if they would be completely by themselves.

She sat and waited by the appointed tree for a few minutes, wondering how she would react if Johnny told her anything incorrect about the game, and twirling a blade of grass thoughtfully. Five o'clock came and went; at a quarter after, Lily was beginning to get worried.

Actually, she was beginning to get infuriated.

He had stood her up! What kind of Entrance Into the World of a Teenager was this? She was stood up on her first date! And it wasn't even really a date! It was a pseudo-date! Damn it all.

Lily stood up, about to return to the castle, when she saw a figure approaching. Between the darkening sky and the distance of said approaching figure, Lily could not tell who it was.

As the person came closer, she could see it was a thin boy- probably a second or third year. Her heart leapt. She hadn't been stood up!

Actually, she had. For as he came closer, Lily saw that it was not, in fact, Johnny Sharp. It was...

"James?" she said uncertainly.

"Oh, hello there, Evans," came James Potter's cold voice, as he walked up to Lily.

"Um... hi... I was just..."

"Waiting for someone?" suggested James, far too pleasant to be legitimate.

"How did you...?"

"I know everything."

"Obviously."

He ruffled his black hair with his hand- something Lily had never seen him do before, and for some inexplicable reason, it annoyed her greatly.

"So, where is the mystery boy?"

"Coming," said Lily with more certainty than she felt. She could not very well leave now, could she?

"Where?"

"Well, not yet. But soon."

"I see. And you don't think that he might not come?"

"Who said it was a bloke?"

"You fancy girls, then, do you?"

"NO!"

"Didn't think so."

"Listen... James... I'm sorry about the... punching you... thing."

"Oh that? Don't apologize," said James, a bite in his voice that Lily slightly feared. "I get socked in the jaw every day, you know."

"Well you were taunting a first year!"

"A rotten first year!"

Lily rolled her eyes, seriously doubting this, but said nothing.

"So where _is_ this date of yours?"

"It's not a date. And he'll be here."

"Are you sure? Are you sure he didn't want to be caught consorting with the type of bird who goes about socking blokes far above her social status?"

Comprehension dawned on the redhead. She turned to James, eyes wide, and a look of utter disgust on her face. "What did you say to him?" she demanded angrily.

"I didn't say anything to Johnny. I did, though, say something to Sirius, which he may or may not have overheard..." he broke off, and Lily could feel his grin, if she could not see it.

And before she knew what had happened, he was staggering backward, hand clamped over his jaw, and eyes shut. He groaned in pain.

Oh, Merlin.

She'd just punched him again.

Suddenly uncaring, Lily turned and stormed back up to the castle, red hair flying, and green eyes sparkling with tears of anger.

And from that moment on, Lily Evans _hated_ James Potter.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

_A/N: voi la!_ It was shorter than usual, I know, and not particularly mystery-oriented, but it gave you history, explained some things, and hinted at the future... like, the next chapter. Just go with it. Merry Christmas (so sue me) and a happy new year! Maybe, possibly, hopefully chapter 13 will be up by the end of the month. Maybe. If I end up writing it the way I envision it, it may be one of my favorites. At the moment, it is to be called "Red."

Anyway- I know you're all too busy to spend two minutes leaving me a review, so I wont even ask.

Ya right.

Be a love and review me! cookies all around!

And special love to **GaryLovesPickles** (thanks, and merry Xmas as well!), **Tasz** (again, happy birthday! Hope you enjoyed, and thank-you!), and **Kay** (!_is flattered_! Thank you so much! Merry Christmas too you too, and I hope you continue to R&R!)- who reviewed anonymously. The rest of your lovely people have your responses already.

Merry Christmas! See you on the other side-

Cheers,

-Jewels-

(and no one ask if "Molly Clay" is "Molly Weasley" or I'll shoot you. No. She is not.)


	13. Red

_History:_ JKR should not be associated with this chapter, because the poor woman does not deserve association with something that gave me so much trouble. Out of legal courtesy, however, I will say that Ms. Rowling is the originator of everything even remotely good in it.

_Note:_ This chapter is **evil.** I couldn't get it to flow right! I kept rewriting it, 'cos it was too sloppy, or revealing, or choppy, or just too stupid! Finally I just typed out alternate versions, remixed the good stuff, and read through the **FOUR** completed versions for my favorite. That's my excuse for taking so long to update! Hopefully, you'll enjoy it despite.

_Recap_: chapter 6: two newspaper articles are released: one on the attack at Hogsmeade, the other of death threats to the Minister of Magic. Lily and James speculate on whether the incidents were planned to occur on the same day (Sunday, September the first). Chapter 11: Suspicious Lily and James search Praedam and Silth's respective offices. The latter finds nothing, but Lily finds a mysterious box. But the situation leads to the logical, annoying conclusion that Praedam isn't a death eater, and there's no proof that Silth is.

**Chapter 13- "Red"**

"_That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another..."  
_–Charlie Brown (written by Charles M. Shultz)

* * *

_"__Oh Come All Ye Dead..._

_(and living)_

_To (Professor) Horace Slughorn's Annual Christmas Eve Party_

_To take place at Eight O'clock in the Evening _

_On the Twenty-fourth of December, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Seven_

_In Professor Horace Slughorn's Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Please bring one deceased guest (ghost, poltergeist, etc. **No Inferi, Undead, etc.**)_

_You may also invite, if desired, one other guest (living)_

_R.S.V.P. by Owl_

_-Hogwarts Students may RSVP personally-_

_Enjoy a Very Merry Christmas_

_Sincere regards,_

**Horace P. Slughorn**

_-Order of Merlin, Second Class-"_

The moment the invitations had arrived to those select students that Slughorn fancied to send them to, the Annual "Get an Invite to the Party" Flurry began. In other words, the sixth year girls became crazed with the idea of getting invited by a wizard- the best looking one who would take them.

Lily, being a mature (taken) seventh year, rolled her eyes and massaged her head at the whole business. As a matter of fact, the sixth year girls were generally getting on her nerves as of late. In addition to their own madness in the search of an escort, they seemed to expect Lily to share in it. Not once did any one of them seem to glance at the newspaper and see the three Ministry deaths (two of these had been of wizards in Elijah's department: The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes) at the hands of Voldemort.

No, all they seemed to be interested was who was going with whom.

If _one_ more sixteen-year-old girl came up to her to ask what bloke she was going to take, Lily swore she would murder them.

But, in some ways, Lily was positively envious of those girls. What wouldn't she to have given for her topmost priority be getting a date? Hell, she would have settled if it were N.E.W.T.s, or Head duties.

As it was, she'd spent many sleepless nights, tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable while thoughts of Voldemort and Death Eaters plagued her. But when she did get to sleep, she found little or no solace there. Lily did not sleep _at all_ after a dream of Elijah being murdered by death eaters, until she'd written to him and received an answer two days later.

The result of such insomniac episodes and a distinct tiredness that hung about the Head Girl lately was the increased anxiety of her friends. Lexi started almost literally shoving food down her throat, insisting that she was becoming anorexic (when this didn't help, she began to favor "bulimic"); Eden actually confronted her in the Library one day and asked if a male had "violated her" in any way; Alice- who was much more subtle than the other two- started bringing her scones or coffee when she was studying in the library or up in dormitory.

Everyone- sixth year girls excluded- had been exceedingly nice to her.

Even Potter.

At the head meeting in early December, he had actually called a truce. Again. Lily had, naturally, agreed, trying not to wonder how long it would last. But with the newfound un-argumentative state between the Head Boy and Girl, Lily was even more uncomfortable. If she wasn't fighting with Potter, she didn't know how she was supposed to speak with him.

So, from where Lily was standing, she was pretty sure things could only get better.

She was quite wrong.

Lily walked to Transfiguration alone on the last day before classes ended for the Christmas holidays. She wasn't entirely sure where all her friends were, at the moment, except that she had left Eden in the Potions department, three seconds away from being asked to Slughorn's party by Rian Orlando.

"Red?" came a voice from somewhere behind her.

Lily turned to look for whoever had called her. The corridor was crowded with students changing classes, so she did not distinguish anyone at first. Then, her eyes landed on James Potter, but he was in on position to be speaking to her. In fact, he was leaning against the wall opposite Lily, chatting up some blonde.

At least, that's how it appeared at first.

A second glance told Lily that it was not "some blonde" standing under Potter's confused smirk, but rather Redival Shelley. Potter was chatting up Redival Shelley?

"You're sure you want me to call you that?" he was saying to the sixth year. "'Red,' I mean," he added, clarifying. "'Cos you're hair is sort of... blonde... ish. Maybe. Y'know."

"Yes, James," laughed Redival. "My hair is _blonde-ish-maybe_, but 'Redival' is such a mouthful. Just 'Red' is fine."

"Is that common?" James asked, bewildered.

"It will be," said Redival in delight, causing her loose golden curls to bounce and her large blue eyes to sparkle with delight.

"Er... okay; as long as you don't start calling me 'Jamie' or anything. Um... so, I'll see you seven thirty next Friday in the Entrance Hall?"

Redival nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Right. Um... see you later..."

"See you, _Jamie_..."

She giggled in an almost un-Redival-like manner, and departed down the corridor, while James departed in the other direction (towards Transfiguration). Lily stood where she was, suddenly not really caring about the heavy traffic of students. What exactly had just happened?

And then she moved in the direction Redival had taken, with the only intention of putting as much space between herself and Potter. Without a clear idea of where she was going, she walked quickly, her mind inexplicably racing.

'_It's just a stupid nickname. Just a stupid nickname,'_ her mind recited repeatedly. '_I don't really care what Potter calls his girlfriends. I've never even liked it when he called me that anyway, and it fits _her_ name as well as it does _my_ hair.'_

But something wasn't right. _She_ was Red. _The _Red. The _only_ Red. Would Redival become the new "Red"?

Merlin, she was being ridiculous: almost as bad as one of those sixth year girls...

Only vaguely aware of her surroundings, Lily pushed her way into a girls' bathroom. She did not really care that she was late for class, but a moment later, she wished she was in Transfiguration- or even Herbology- for anywhere would be better than where she was now.

"He asked you to Slughorn's party?" squealed the giggliest voice Lily had heard since... breakfast. Well, Sixth year girls were loud, and rather hard to avoid.

And this bathroom happened to be swarming with them.

"Mhm," Redival Shelley was saying, as she applied blush on her already blushing face. She stood in front of the mirror, positively beaming, as four or five other sixth year girls giggled and squealed around her.

"Did you snog?" asked one girl practically.

"Ya, Tiff... we snogged. Right there in the corridor," Redival continued sarcastically. "_No. _But we're more or less going out now. Oh, hi Lily."

Redival caught a glimpse of Lily's face in the mirror, but did not seem to register the redhead's look of utter disgust. "Hey, Redival," said Lily, much more calmly than she felt. She was good at that.

"Hi, Lily," chorused the other gigglers. "Guess what!"

Biting back a sarcastic and scathing retort, Lily went to the sink next to Redival and began to unnecessarily wash her hands. "What?"

"_James Potter_ just asked Redival to Slughorn's Christmas Party!"

"Look at me: I'm green with envy," Lily quipped.

"Lily's never fancied James," Redival reminded them all, now applying chic lip-gloss. "They've been arguing since first year."

_'Second year,'_ thought Lily.

"Who are you going to Slughorn's with?" one girl asked.

_'Don't kill her. Don't kill her. Don't kill her, Lily. It's wrong. Murder... bad. Don't. Don't._' Her hand actually twitched, wanting desperately to reach for her wand and toss the best hex she knew at the twit who had asked. Fortunately, Lily was extremely skilled in self-control.

"No one," she said, though she was sure she'd answered the question to the very same girl before. "I'm with Elijah Trent at the moment, and he's working out of the country for the next few weeks."

_'Bravo, Lily. You didn't even have to kill anyone!'_

"Surely he wouldn't mind if you went to a party with someone else, though?" gasped the Head Giggler.

"Yes, rather indecent of him, I'm sure," Lily stated sarcastically. "But I've got to go. Transfiguration, y'know..."

"You should skip," one girl said.

"Yeah- hang out in here," suggested another. "You can always tell McGonagall you were sick or something."

"Mmmm... no thanks. Bye."

"Bye," chorused most of the others.

"Bye, Lily," said Redival separately. "See you later."

Inexplicably riled, Lily exited the bathroom. Her headache had not subsided; on the contrary, it was far worse. She moved quickly down the corridor in the direction of the Transfiguration department, though she didn't have any intention of going to class just yet.

She stopped in the now deserted corridor (most people had gone to their respective classes by now) and leaned against the wall. It was very quiet in reality, but Lily felt as if a million different people were asking her questions and she had to answer them all at once. All the questions, however, seemed to revolve around a hated Head Boy, a slutty blonde, and an irritating nickname.

But that nickname didn't seem so irritating any more, Redival Shelley wasn't a slut, and... well... Potter was still hated. Definitely. Of course. No question.

Lily gathered herself, and pushed on down the corridor. She entered the Transfiguration classroom without the slightest apprehension of McGonagall, though she did fear some other aspects of the class.

"Why are you so late, Miss Evans?" asked McGonagall, eyebrows raised.

"Slughorn wanted to see me," Lily lied unblushingly. "Sorry, Professor."

McGonagall nodded. "Take a seat."

Lily looked about. There was only one vacant seat, next to Paul Montreal. She sat there, only to receive a shock a moment later.

"Potter! Black! Stop it," commanded McGonagall, for the two seventh years were practically stuffing their fists into their respective mouths to stop the laughter that had come to them over some joke or another. "On second thought," McGonagall continued, "Black, trade seats with..." her eyes scanned the room briefly; "Montreal."

Sirius came and sat in the seat Paul left, and Lily suddenly felt uncomfortable. _'Potter's best mate_,' she thought in spite of herself. But then Sirius spoke.

"Hey, Red," he said, with all the casual-ness that Sirius _always_ had. And suddenly, Lily was exceptionally fond of Sirius Black.

"If you just got here," said McGonagall, looking meaningfully at Lily as she sat down in her own desk; "Follow the directions on the board." Lily glanced at the board's directions ("partner up and..." she didn't read after that) and looked over at Sirius.

"Be my partner?"

"Sure. McGonagall probably wont let me and James be partners..." He cast an irritated looked across the room at McGonagall, who was looking through papers over her thin-rimmed spectacles.

"No, I doubt it," agreed Lily. She noticed Alice and Eden partnering up, and Lexi and Frank. She looked at the board again and read a little more of the directions. "So we're actually _doing_ the human transformations today," Lily remarked, mildly surprised. "Three weeks of studying and she lets us start the last day before holidays."

"Very generous," Sirius noted sarcastically. He drew his wand from his book bag and faced Lily again. "So... do you want to go first or me?"

"You. Definitely."

For the next twenty minutes or so, there was not much talking between Lily and the Marauder, other than the utterance of the spell. First, Sirius transformed Lily into a puppy (a rather cute, ginger-colored spaniel), and they had to wait while McGonagall made the rounds about the room, inspecting various feats of transfiguration. By the time she got to Sirius and Spaniel Lily, they were one of two pairs who had done it perfectly (the other being- unsurprisingly- James and Paul).

Then, Sirius transformed Lily back, and she transfigured _him_ into an animal. She succeeded in making him a dog, as was the goal, but it wasn't the sort of dog she'd been aiming for. Instead of a yellow lab, he became a shaggy, black-haired dog. She shrugged this off, however, waited with Sirius the Dog for McGonagall to come back around, then transfigured him back.

The pair had only to wait for the rest of the class to finish, and judging by the way Peter was trying to fix Eddie Bones's ears, it looked as if that could take a while.

"She could just dismiss us," sighed Sirius irritably.

"She doesn't want to set you loose on the school, Sirius. And I can't say I blame her," Lily replied, smirking.

"No need to be so nice about it, Red," Sirius returned, also smirking. "So what shall we talk about, if we're forced to sit with each other?"

"Something completely unimportant, of course."

"Ah. Alright then. I'll start."

"Right, y'are."

"Prongs is going out with Redival Shelley."

Lily expertly hid the unexplained tornado that seemed to have risen up in the pit of her stomach. She raised her eyebrows. "Well that counts as 'unimportant,' Sirius," she allowed fairly.

"Yeah, and now it's your turn to comment on it."

The redhead looked over at James, who was about to be transfigured by Paul. "She's too good for him," she stated firmly.

"I would never have guessed you to say that, Red," said Sirius sardonically. "But I tend to disagree, y'know."

"And _I_ would never have guessed _you_ to say that, Sirius," Lily replied.

"Redival _is_ a sixth year girls, after all," the Marauder continued, ignoring her. "And you know how _they_ are."

"No, actually. But I'd imagine _you_ do."

"I didn't mean it _that_ way! Merlin, you're as bad as... well... me. I mean, I didn't think anyone else could find as many crude connotations I as I could," Sirius said, half-laughing. "And I meant that sixth year girls are, y'know... annoying and such."

"And how many of them have you dated, Sirius Black?" laughed Lily herself.

"I hear no evil, Red."

"Maybe, but you _do_ plenty of it. But it's time to change the subject. James's love life isn't my area of expertise."

"Mhm. Yeah right. I bet you secretly stalk him."

"Oh, of course. I'm madly in love with him, or didn't you know?"

"Of course I knew."

"Of course."

"Naturally."

"Undoubtedly."

"Indubitably."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You should comment on the weather."

"Nah. I made the last unimportant comment; it's your turn."

"Alright. What are you doing for Slughorn's party?"

"What, or who?"

"Oh _that's_ mature."

"Joking, joking. Fine. Um... I'm taking Rachel Brossle."

"Mmmm... that's right. E told me."

"E's insanely jealous, right?"

"Mhm. She hates Rachel."

"I know." Sirius grinned slyly.

"Are you _trying_ to make her jealous, Sirius Black?" gaped Lily, though she could not hide the amusement in her eyes.

"Of course not!"

"Oh, right."

"Honestly."

"Mhm."

Sirius grinned and looked away at where Rachel was paired with a Ravenclaw girl. "I like Rachel," he told Lily firmly.

"And she likes you?"

"Apparently."

"She was mad at you at the end of last year though. Why was that anyway?"

The Marauder seemed to hesitate in answering. "It was sort of complicated."

"The same reason Eden was mad at you?"

"And Prongs. And Moony. And the Staff."

Lily felt inexplicable pity for him. "Why?" she asked quietly.

Sirius did not look at her as he answered, but was staring into some oblivion. "A prank," he said finally. The Head Girl was thoroughly bewildered. He had pulled some three thousand pranks in his time at Hogwarts- what was so particularly bad about that prank to make everyone angry with him? He seemed to read her mind. "It was a really... bad... prank."

"Are you sorry for it?" Lily asked, before she could help herself.

He grinned in a mirthless, twisted sort of way. "Yeah," was all he said, though Lily had half expected a negative.

"Was it stupid?"

The grin widened. "Yeah. Definitely."

"So they were mad at you for a prank."

"Rachel didn't even know what it was. I mean, I sort of made a promise to her about it... and then sort of..."

"Didn't keep it?"

"Yeah. She never knew what the prank was exactly though."

"Damn."

"Mhm."

"Well," Lily said, after a thoughtful pause. "That takes care of my commenting. It's your turn."

"There's Quidditch tomorrow."

"Mhm. Exciting. And if you don't win, I'll kill you."

"Why, Red, I didn't know you cared."

"I do. You simply _cannot_ lose to _Slytherin_."

"We won't."

"Good."

"Your turn," said Sirius.

"Frank's having trouble transfiguring Lexi."

"Strange. Usually he's good at Transfiguration."

Lily shrugged. "Must be nervous. Your turn."

"Good transfiguration yourself."

"Thanks, you too. I can't understand it though. This is like the second time I've gotten the transfiguration perfect on one try... and human transfiguration's supposed to be really hard too."

Lily noticed that Sirius smirked slightly here. "It's not that difficult. You did fine."

"Thanks," she repeated, something about his mannerism making her suspicious.

"It's your turn to say something," Sirius reminded her.

Lily sighed and glanced about the room for inspiration. When she saw James being transformed back into a human by Paul Montreal, she almost commented on the Head Boy in some way- his stupidity, his immaturity... but somehow, she fought the impulse. She returned her eyes to the Marauder sitting next to her, and, noticing that he had followed her gaze, smirked.

"I hate penguins," she declared.

"That's not what you were thinking," Sirius accused mischievously.

"Never said it was."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"Hello, Professor," said Lily glumly in response to Professor Grossman's grim nod, as the Head Girl entered the Herbology classroom. They were not working in the greenhouses today, due to the bad weather, and instead, had been instructed to set up in the lecture room. Lily thought it wise to set up in the _back_ of the lecture room.

She watched as other students filed into the classroom, lazily speculating on random things about them. Eden took a seat with Alice nearer to the front, and Lily wondered if the blonde had accepted Rian Orlando's probable invitation to Slughorn's. Sirius and Rachel entered together, invoking opposite feelings inside Lily. Rachel, whom Lily had never disliked as Eden had, was suddenly a very annoying creature. One would have to be a very annoying creature to be best friends with the dizzy sixth year girls. Redival Shelley, for example.

Sirius, Lily had decided, was not all that bad. He had never been her favorite Marauder (Remus), nor her least favorite (James), and though he still held neither position, Lily had found a sudden respect for him during Transfiguration. Sure he was immature and always on a bit of an ego-trip, but he wasn't nearly as harsh or self-centered as he once was. He was- and it felt odd to admit it- nice. Unlike James, of course.

Speak of the devil, the Marauder Ringleader entered the Herbology classroom with a determined expression on his face. His hazel eyes scanned the room for a moment, pausing thoughtfully on Grossman, and Lily wondered what it was he was looking for. Her question was answered when he saw her in the back corner, and hurried towards her.

Lily stared at the approaching Head Boy with equal curiosity and apprehension. Then, much to her surprise, he slid into the desk next to her.

"What's going...?"

James interrupted her. "How would you like to do me a favor?"

"Not at all," Lily replied at once.

"Very funny. I'm serious, though."

"No, you're James."

"And you're pathetic. Now c'mon. You've gotta help me..."

"With what?"

"Talking to Grossman."

"Oh, I see. Asking her to Slughorn's party, are you?"

"Oh that's _hysterical_, Lily. Tell me, do you write your own material?"

"Most of the time, yeah."

"Ha, ha. Will you do it?"

"What? Stand-up comedy?"

"Interrogate Grossman."

"No! Well... I don't know. What about?"

"About her mysterious illness that she got over without going to the Hospital Wing."

Lily raised her eyes skeptically. "That was a month and half ago," she pointed out coolly. "Even if it is important, why are you waiting till now?"

The second bell rang at that moment, indicating the beginning of class. Grossman told the class, in her distinctly downcast voice, to get out their books and turn to page something-rather. The Head students complied, not taking their respective eyes off each other.

"Because," James replied, bending over and getting his book from his bag; "I want to figure out what's going on."

"And you _didn't_ want to find out what was going on when you exploded all the pumpkins in the Great Hall and put engorgement potions on ninety percent of the school...?"

"Have you read the newspaper this morning?"

"What does that...?"

"Have you?"

"No..."

"Figures... all girls are worried about these days is make up and the Christmas party."

This comment struck Lily harder than James had intended it to. "I'll have you know," she snapped- though they were whispering now- "that I've read the newspaper practically _every morning_ since fifth year. I overslept and skipped breakfast this morning, so I missed the mail!" James was taken aback by the sharpness in her voice. "And furthermore," she pressed, still in a venomous whisper, "I hardly think you have the right to accuse _me_ of being empty-headed when you've spent the last six years with nothing more than girls and Quidditch on your mind."

For once, James did not retort. "Calm down," he said forcefully. "Sorry for offending you and all that. Merlin..."

Lily exhaled heavily and glared forward where Grossman was obliviously demonstrating something or another. After all the sleepless nights spent over worry about Voldemort, Lily thought it was incredibly hypocritical of the Head Boy to mock _her_. Especially, when it was _he_ who was going to Slughorn's party with a sixth year girl. Admittedly, Redival was one of the less dizzy girls, but still...

"Here," said James presently, elbowing her in the arm. She turned to see him handing her the morning's newspaper. She took it in surprise and read the largest, boldest headline.

"MINISTER'S LIFE STILL IN JEOPARDY." 

Lily scanned the story. "What do death threats have to do with anything?" she asked. "We've been over this... the threats have been happening for months..." The Head Girl was reminded of the conversation she'd had with James at the beginning of the year, and the conspiracy theories it had eventually led to.

"Right, right," continued James. "And you didn't want to get into considering government death eaters... I remember. But we agreed on one thing... the letters that had been arriving to the Minister were timed to collide with the attack on Hogsmeade."

"Okay..."

"And I said that maybe someone in the Ministry had told The Minister of Magic to call a meeting and invite important people for... consultation."

"Right...?"

"Besides people in the Ministry, who else would know that Dumbledore had gone, and give the go-ahead to attack here?"

Lily paused thoughtfully. "I don't know... maybe... the school staff, I guess..."

"Right. And if it wasn't someone in the Ministry of Magic who leaked to Voldemort, than it would have to be one of them..."

"Like who?" whispered Lily suspiciously.

"Like Silth."

"What's this? James Potter conceding that I may be right? Catch me if I faint..."

"Shut it. Will you do it then? Talk to Grossman?"

"Wait... how did we get to Grossman?"

James rolled his eyes. "She mysteriously gets ill and doesn't go to the Hospital Wing, and acts completely different when she gets back? Ya right..."

"So you think Silth is a death eater and he did something to Grossman on Halloween because she recognized him... she... _knew too much?_" Lily spoke these last words in a distinct, though artificial, mocking tone.

"That's what _you_ thought for a while," James reminded her.

"There was nothing in his office to suggest it though."

"And nothing to suggest otherwise?"

"'Guilty until prove innocent?'"

"For the moment, yeah."

Lily debated with herself whether or not to give in. She looked up at Grossman, who was scribbling something on the black board. The old Grossman would have caught on to their conversation ages ago and given them numerous detentions. James was right about one thing- something was different about her.

"Isn't it probable," the Head Boy was continuing, as those thoughts ran through Lily's untidy mess of speculations; "that if Silth is the death eater- and he _is_ going under an assumed name, remember- that he was the one who modified our memories about what happened in the forest? Maybe he did the same to Grossman?"

"Why do _I_ have to interrogate her?" Lily asked suddenly. Privately, she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

James smirked and gave her an 'isn't it obvious?' look. "Grossman's not _that_ different, Evans. She still hates me."

Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. "Something she and I have in common, at the moment..."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

"I was wondering if you could explain how to answer this last question for the homework..."

Lily put on her best 'Innocent Good-Girl Student' look, and pointed to one of the questions on the sheet that Grossman had handed out, concerning a famous tree in South America. Grossman sighed, as if she had expected better of Lily, but read the question anyway.

Class was over, but Lily had another fifteen minutes before her last period of the day- Charms. The other students had already left, including James, who had mouthed 'Good Luck,' just before he slipped out of the classroom with Remus and Peter.

"Er... Professor," Lily began suddenly, as Grossman continued to read over the question and consider the answer; "you know how you were sick earlier in the year?"

The Herbology teacher looked up quickly. "What do you mean?"

"Around Halloween," Lily continued, pretending to be unperturbed. She continued to maintain her innocent façade. "You were sick, right? What was the matter with you?" Lily was beginning to wish it was Slughorn she had to question...

"Why do you ask?" Grossman asked sharply.

"Well... well, I was feeling sort of sick myself, and none of my friends can figure out what it would be... not even Lexi, and you know how smart she is..." In honesty, the redhead had very little idea where she was going with this. "And you've never been sick in the six years you've taught us before... so it must have been really bad to make you miss classes on Halloween..."

"Well, I suppose so," was all the Professor replied.

"What symptoms were there? Maybe it's the same thing? Was it simple flu, or maybe dragon pox...?"

"It was..." began Grossman, in a distant voice. Then she broke off. "Never mind," she said, much more Grossman-ly. "It's highly unlikely that you caught something from me, and didn't feel the affects until over a month later. You had better visit Madame Pomfrey if you're ill."

"How did Madame Pomfrey treat you, when you were ill?"

"She... she was quite helpful. Are you finished, Miss Evans?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Professor. I was just curious... see, I'm thinking of going into a branch of healing concerning Herbology..."

"Really?" Grossman looked interested. "Horace... Professor Slughorn... said that you were interested in the Ministry of Magic... something to do with languages..."

"'Must be mistaken," shrugged Lily. "And um... about question number seven..."

She pointed at the question Grossman had been intending to explain to her. "Oh yes," said the teacher. "It's asking for you to explain the mythical origin verses the historical... and then the muggle excuse, verses the magical reality..."

"Oh, thanks..." Lily turned to leave the classroom, but stopped on the threshold and turned once more to Grossman. "Just out of curiosity, what _was_ the sickness you had on Halloween?"

Grossman vacillated. When she did speak, it was with caution. "In honesty, Miss Evans... I don't entirely remember."

And from what Lily could tell- aside from the homework- that was the first truth Grossman had given her yet.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

James Potter was going to Slughorn's Christmas party with Redival Shelley.

And Hogwarts' female population went insane.

It was very hard to be simultaneously trying to get James's attention, and to ignore him. At least, it was difficult now that Lily was attempting it. Two years ago, all she would have had to do was walk down a corridor that he happened to be standing in, and he would've fixed the deal without a second's hesitation. Now, however, things were quite different.

Lily wasn't sure if she should be relieved, or annoyed.

For one thing, she did not get an opportunity to talk to him in Charms that day. For another thing, he was noticeably absent during the first half of dinner, but appeared half way through, toting Redival (thus the ignoring part). Lily spent the evening playing cards and gobstones and any other game that popped into their heads in a room on the fifth floor, with Alice and Eden, who was busy hyperventilating about the Quidditch match the following morning. Therefore, the Head Girl incidentally missed the Head Boy and his girlfriend by the Common Room fire from seven o'clock to ten.

And the next morning there was not a snowball's chance in hell of speaking to him, for it was a Quidditch morning. Eden spent the entire morning, from when she woke up at seven thirty, to when the team assembled at nine-thirty in the Gryffindor tent, prancing about in sport shorts and a tank-top and being nervous. Lexi was a much more composed witch, and ate breakfast with Frank, Paul Montreal, Alice, and Lily herself, like a normal person.

In short, the Quidditch players were untouchable by everything and anything on a Quidditch morning. And anyway, Lily did not fancy swimming through the three feet of sixth year girls' drool to get to talk to Potter.

When Lily climbed into the stands with Alice, however, her mind did not focus on Grossman, or Silth, or spies, or espionage, or anything of the sort. It felt clear and fresh for the first time in weeks, and she could only attribute it to the unmistakable scent of imminent Quidditch playing.

Remus Lupin took the seat next to her.

"Hey, Lily."

She looked over at him. "What? I don't merit a 'Red?'" she countered playfully. "And I wore my red scarf and everything."

"I thought you didn't like that nickname," Remus said skeptically.

"Only when Our Beloved Big-Head Boy uses it," Lily assured him.

"My, you're looking tomato-esque today," Remus said, eying the red hoodie Lily wore. To give credit where credit is due, if she were some 'hundred pounds heavier and a little juicier, she _would_ have resembled a tomato. The combination of the hoodie, scarf, and hair was a bit on the crimson side.

"That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," replied the Red Girl sardonically. "But _you_ could show some more patriotism." Remus had donned black.

"I'm mourning," he informed her.

"Ah."

But the conversation was cut short by the booming, magnified voice of Eddie Bones's Quidditch commentary.

"And here we are on this glorious, _freezing-bloody-cold_ day, for an all-important Quidditch match! Since classes ended yesterday, _nobody_ has an excuse _not_ to be here! This match- as everyone who hasn't lived under a rock for the past two weeks knows- is one of those that decides whether a House still has a chance for the cup..." Gryffindors and Gryffindor-supporters cheered loudly.

"Yeah, yeah," Eddie continued. "Anyway, for those who actually have lives: if the Lions loose today, they are _out of the running_ for the Quidditch cup. Ravenclaw is- sadly- out of the race, so it's Gryffindor- who has suffered one unlucky defeat-, and the undefeated Hufflepuff and Slytherin." There was an assortment of cheers and jeers.

"If Hufflepuff wins, than the next match will be for the Cup: Hufflepuff verses Slytherin. If Gryffindor wins, than Hufflepuff plays Slytherin anyway, but not just for the cup. If Hufflepuff loses that one, than it's a Gryffindor/Slytherin Cup Match, but Slytherin- still having been undefeated- will have to lose by two hundred points or more to lose the Cup."

Anyone who had not known all this already had long since lost interest, and everyone who already knew it, were only half listening, so Eddie wasn't really benefiting anyone by explaining it. However, etiquette dictated he should explain the House Tournament, so he was.

"Moving on, though," he continued, "Any minute now, we'll be seeing the pl... here we go! Ladies and Gents: I present- the Hufflepuff House team!" The Hufflepuff supporters screamed and applauded as the yellow clad Quidditch players flew out into the pitch. "Dominice! Aubrey! Morison! Abbot! Nickerson! Perks! _AND_ Kinsey!"_ The _cheering grew louder as the Hufflepuffs flew about on their broomsticks, circling in formation high in the air.

"And if I'm not mistaken," Eddie's magnified voice announced, "the Gryffindor team is about to... here we are! The _Gryffindor_ House Quidditch team!" Scarlet and gold streaks jetted from the Gryffindor tent, representing the House's team, and Lily felt a familiar thrill of the imminent game run through her as she screamed and applauded with the rest. _"_Montreal! Black! Dearborn! Longbottom! Shaw! Simpson! _AND _Potter!"

The Head Girl saw the Quidditch Captain wave to the highly supportive crowd. The Slytherins present booed and hissed at the Gryffindor team, but that could only be expected. Not only would they much rather face Hufflepuff for the Quidditch Cup, but Gryffindor and Slytherin were the natural rivals.

"Jivé is out on the pitch now," Eddie continued, referring to the wizard who not only refereed the Quidditch matches, but also taught flying lessons to the younger students. He did, indeed, walk out onto the pitch, broom in hand. There was a large trunk in the middle of the grassy ground, which Jivé approached before the excited spectators.

The Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams flew into the formation- a ring in the sky- and James and the Hufflepuff Captain, Dorian Dominice, landed on the ground next to Jivé. "Shake hands," ordered the Sport Director, a tall, balding man, who had once been a very handy seeker.

James and Dominice shook hands as the spectators watched with mild interest (this part was only truly interesting when the Captains hated each other). Then, the two mounted their brooms again. Jivé drew his wand and tapped the trunk once, then stepped back. A moment later, it snapped open, and two black balls jetted out from it. Then, a small, barely visible golden one, about the size of a walnut, also sped out from the trunk: the snitch. It darted before several of the players, before disappearing who knew where.

And then, Jivé picked up the last ball in the trunk. It was a red one- the Quaffle- and Jivé twirled it once in his hand, before pulling back his arm and tossing it as far as he could into the air.

"And the quaffle is up!" announced Eddie, the excitement in his voice clear. "Longbottom to the ball immediately, and he heads down towards the Hufflepuff goal posts." Lily drew her binoculars from her pocket, and focused them on the game. It was hard to see from her place in the stands. "Longbottom passes to Simpson who passes to... nope! Abbot intercepts the quaffle and heads towards... a bludger from Black! Abbot drops the quaffle and... _Shaw_ intercepts... lovely save there by Lexi Shaw who looks ready to drive but... no, passes to Longbottom... he gives it back to Shaw... to Longbottom... to Simpson... to Shaw to... Perky Perks nearly intercepts, but Dearborn stops him with a bludger and... Longbottom has the ball as he... passes... no... SCORES! Chaser Frank Longbottom makes the first shot of the game, scoring 10-0, Gryffindor!"

Frank did a quick victory lap about the stadium, and then returned to the game.

Dominice, the Hufflepuff keeper, had the quaffle and made for a pass to one of the chasers, Jimmy Perks, but Gryffindor was on a roll...

"A nice interception by Shaw, who passes the quaffle to Mackey Simpson... Simpson... is nearly hit by a bludger from Aubrey but dodges it and... passes to Longbottom who... passes to Shaw... Shaw... Shaw is... Lexi drives and scores! 20-0 Gryffindor!"

Lily shifted her focus from a strangely unenthusiastic Lexi, to Eden, who was shooting a bludger at one of the Keepers that Dominice looked ready to pass to. She moved the binoculars to look at Sirius; he was rescuing Paul from the other bludger...

Frank... he was trying to steal the quaffle from Abbot, who had just acquired it from Dominice. Mackey... he blocking Abbot. Potter... he was... Lily looked away from Potter before she saw what he was doing, because she did not particularly want to think about the troublesome Head Boy at the moment. She was _supposed_ to be enjoying herself.

Her eyes landed on Lexi, who had the quaffle that Simms had stolen and passed to her, and listened to Eddie's commentary.

"Shaw takes the Quaffle back to the Hufflepuff end... hooks it to Longbottom... Longbottom has it and... dodges a bludger from... um... one of the Hufflepuff beaters... he has the quaffle and... oh, wait. No, the Quaffle is stolen by Perky Perks... Perks brings it back to Gryffindor... dodges a bludger by Black... dodges Black... still has it and... oh! That's gotta hurt! Some lovely bludger work by Dearborn... but... no! Perks regains the Quaffle before Shaw gets to it and... he passes to Nickerson who... passes back and... Perks drives... he sc... no! No! That's a save by Paul Montreal! Montreal passes out to Shaw!"

Gryffindor fans erupted in applause at Paul's spectacular save, and before they had ceased, they had cause to cheer again. Lexi had scored once more, bringing the score 30-0, Gryffindor.

* * *

By the time Frank scored the 23rd shot for Gryffindor and the score was 230-90, the fans were becoming a bit less enthusiastic. The Chasers didn't do victory laps (though, admittedly, Lexi never did), and hardly anyone shrieked when they scored. The game had been on for over two hours, and the blame was landing entirely on the two seekers. 

The Hufflepuff Captain, Dominice, had called a time-out at the hour and a half mark to shout at Kinsey for not having located the snitch by now, and several of the Gryffindor players were casting occasional glares at James. He, being Captain himself, was exempt from yelling, but seemed annoyed with himself nevertheless.

Even Lily, who loved to watch Quidditch, was beginning to find the whole thing tedious, as Paul saved the Quaffle for the three millionth time and hurled it to Mackey Simpson..

"Okay, James," murmured Remus, who was still sitting next to Lily; "Any time now..."

Lily leaned back in her seat and popped a pasta flavored Bertie Bott bean into her mouth, as Sirius thwarted Hufflepuff's latest attempt at stealing the Quaffle from Mackey with a bludger. Alice sighed irritably in the other seat next to her. "Here you go," she said, handing the redhead the binoculars she'd borrowed. "I can't watch any more. I wish someone would just _win_ already..."

Fifteen minutes later, they were still wishing.

Lexi scored the 29th shot for Gryffindor just a few moments after Abbot scored the 14th for Hufflepuff. Lily begrudgingly picked up the binoculars Alice had given her earlier and refocused them on the game. Involuntarily, they flicked to James Potter once more. His expression, however, was no longer one of frustration or even concentration. Instead, he was looking some ten yards away at the Hufflepuff seeker, Kinsey.

Lily followed his stare with her binoculars and saw that Kinsey was looking about him frantically, as if he'd just lost something. The redhead's mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that James's had undoubtedly jumped to as well. Kinsey had just seen the snitch, and though it may have left his view for a moment, there was a high chance he'd find it any time.

Through the binoculars, Lily turned her vision back to James. He was accelerating towards Kinsey. He'd seen the snitch too!

Kinsey looked entirely startled at being rushed at so by the Gryffindor Captain, and ducked to avoid being hit. The moment James zoomed over him, however, he regained himself and followed at his top speed. Lily looked at the air in front of James, but she couldn't see the snitch. She could only assume that that was due to the poor sight provided by mere binoculars.

Kinsey was gaining on him, but James was speeding up too. He was practically flat on his broom, and his eyes were narrowly concentrating before him, as if not even seeing the Hufflepuff seeker. Kinsey, now about a yard behind him, looked panicky, as if sure that he couldn't catch up with James.

The rest of the game had paused. Nickerson scored on Paul, but Montreal didn't seem to even notice. Lexi dived to get the Quaffle, but didn't drive for a shot, because she was too busy watching James and Kinsey fight for the snitch. Slowly, Kinsey was gaining on James, and Eddie barely said a word now. What was there to do except wait?

Kinsey's shoulders were about level with James's waist, and as this happened, James slowly outstretched his right hand. Eden dived about three feet away from him to deflect an attacking bludger. Kinsey was now trying to nudge James out of the way, as if to get a clearer sight of the snitch. Lily watched the scene unfold, breathless with the other spectators.

And then, suddenly, a thought occurred to her, as she tried in vain to find the snitch once more: it wasn't there. James wasn't chasing the snitch.

Even more suddenly, the thought in her head seemed to become a reality. The two Seekers were headed towards the Hufflepuff stands, accelerating to the maximum capability of their brooms in the pursuit of the "snitch." Kinsey was trying to see around James's arm, which he evidently thought was impeding his, and James could be seen breathing very fast. Lily found that this was true of her too. He was going to crash... they both were... he was trying some sort of feint, but surely it wasn't going to work...

And then, as a crash seemed inevitable to the entire deadly silent crowd, James veered up and missed the Hufflepuff stand. For a fraction of a second, Kinsey seemed to think that James had veered away because of the imminent collision and that the snitch was, in fact, still in front of him. Too late, however, he saw that this wasn't true, and he only had time to slow ever so slightly before the front of his broom crashed into the side of the stand.

Jivé was zooming over to Kinsey in an instant. The seeker was conscious, but looked extremely dazed. His slowing down had apparently prevented him from crashing through the frame of the stand altogether, but he still seemed to be in immense pain. There was a collective groan on the part of... everyone... at the comprehension that James had not seen the snitch.

Lily noticed none of this. Her binoculars were still on James. His hazel eyes had suddenly lit up, but not because of Kinsey's crash. He was staring across the field at something, his gaze intent. And as he accelerated, and other people began to notice as well, Kinsey pulled away from the Hufflepuff stand he'd wedged his broom into, and tried to pursue him. But there was no hope...

James slowly reached out his hand to grab the snitch... he was inches away... centimeters... he just had to get hold of that wing and...

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"..._But let's give credit where it's due!_ Ladies and Gents, HERE COMES THE MAN OF THE HOUR! SEEKER AND CAPTAIN: _JAMES POTTER_!"

James grinned at Sirius's introduction and at the screams and cheers he received as he stepped further into the Common Room and everyone turned to greet him.

"The final score," Sirius continued to boom, as he hopped down from his spot on a table, and came over dramatically to James; "was _four-hundred forty, to one hundred fifty..._" Screams... "...With a career game for _ALL OUR CHASERS!_ That would give the Lovely Lex Shaw and the Fantastic Frank Longbottom- count 'em- _ELEVEN_ successful shots apiece..."

Lexi could not avoid a slight smile and glow as the collective screamed Frank and her praise, and Sirius winked at her; "_AND..." _The Marauder continued,_ "_A dazzling seventy points credited to the Rookie- give it up for MACKEY SIMPSON, Everyone!"

Every Gryffindor present cheered loudly: indeed, the walls themselves seemed to be cheering for the victory. They were still in the running for the Cup, and after two years in a row a victory, it would be considered a tragedy if this last year for the majority of the team was the year they lost it.

The party commenced.

Sirius pulled James aside towards the table of Butterbeer (which Remus had mysteriously disappeared to conjure while the Quidditch Team was still changing after the match) and spoke more seriously. "Slytherin's going to slaughter Hufflepuff," he stated, opening a butterbeer bottle and handing it to his friend. "That'll make it a Gryffindor/Slytherin Cup."

Padfoot grinned as he took a swig of his own butterbeer. "Up for it?"

James grinned also, and took a drink. "Are you?"

"Jay!"

The pretty, flushed face of Redival Shelley appeared at the Quidditch Hero's side, and she slipped an arm around James's waist, standing on the tips of her toes and kissing him on the cheek. Sirius smirked. "I'll leave you two alone..." he said, making his way towards where Rachel Brossle was congratulating a triumphant Eden Dearborn. "See you later, _Jay!"_

James grabbed a bottle cap from the table and threw it at the back of Sirius's head.

Butterbeer was only the first course at these infamous Quidditch Parties. By the time most of the under-fourteens had gone to bed (around one o'clock or one-thirty), Sirius had managed to dig up some stronger stuff. The result of this- combined with the generally lively atmosphere, provided by the "Snitch Snatch" song playing loudly in the background- was the mostly drunken sixth year male that was speaking with Lily.

Or at least, it _could_ be considered speaking. Maybe.

"Sho 'den I shay... 'If you don' wanna goo up to 'da... da... um... to 'da roooom...'" He paused thoughtfully over a bottle of something that Lily was beginning to wish she had poisoned. "'Wha wersh I shayin?" continued the sixth year presently,

"I haven't the faintest idea," replied Lily in all honesty.

"Well, it prolly, wasin' importan..."

"I shouldn't think so, no."

"Did I ever tell yeh 'bout da time I wersh... Oh! I lurve 'dis shong... _'Dere's a Lervly Little Witch in a Lervly Lil' Town..."_

Lily covered her ears as her companion's crooning became unbearable. Without bothering with an excuse, she got up from her seat and moved across the room. He did not seem to have noticed (_"an' she shay she don' wannu ride no mageee carpet wif meeeee...")_, and he did not pursue her.

She served herself her first Firewhiskey of the evening. It was not that Lily was a tea-totaller; it was merely that she did not want to get drunk with so many other drunks (especially the blokes), with so little cause. Eden joined her, looking surprisingly sober.

"Hello, there," said the blonde, fiddling with the sleeve of the over-sized band shirt (coincidentally, for "Snitch Snatch") paired lazily with sports sweats she'd donned after the game. She picked up an empty glass and considered it thoughtfully.

"Hey, E. How are you?"

"You mean 'why are you', don't you?"

"What?"

"'Why are you not drunk?' is what you mean," Eden said knowledgably.

"Not at all."

Eden smirked and set down the glass. "Well, Lily. I should tell you: at the moment, I don't need to be drunk."

"No?"

"No. I'm perfectly content sober. Life is good."

"Is it?"

"Yes. I'm going to Slughorn's party with Rian Orlando, Peeves is my deceased guest, Christmas is less than a week away, and Gryffindor is going to win the Quidditch Cup."

Lily shook her head, rolling her eyes but smirking all the while. "I'm insanely jealous."

"That's apparent. What ghost have you asked anyway, Red?"

Ignoring any thoughts associated with the nickname, Lily grinned proudly and said: "Nearly Headless Nick."

"Oh so _you're_ the one that is driving every Gryffindor insane by having already asked him. Rachel Brossle is going to _murder_ you..."

Lily downed the last bit of alcohol in her own glass. "I don't know if I'll sleep tonight out of fear."

Eden laughed merrily, and slipped an arm around Lily's shoulder. "You just unabashedly bashed Rachel, Red. You're my hero." She gave a quick hug to her redhead friend, and turned to go finish a conversation she'd been having with Sirius and Remus, grabbing a butterbeer as she went.

"I wish I had your life, E," Lily called after her.

Eden laughed again and said over her shoulder: "Keep wishing!"

When she'd gone, Lily turned to the drink table again. She stared at the selection before her: hard liquor or butterbeer. She sighed, and set down her glass. She picked up butterbeer instead. It was ridiculous to consider, but _Eden_ was being a good influence on _her_.

Lexi joined her a moment later.

"Hey, Girl," said Lily, glad at the sight of someone who was neither intoxicated nor crazy; "I haven't seen you all night... where've you been?"

"Did you know," began Lexi lazily, refilling her empty glass; "that Quidditch was named for a South African game hunter?"

Lily paused. "No, it wasn't..."

Lexi laughed. Well, maybe she was a _little_ intoxicated. "No, it wasn't," she agreed. "But that's what that fifth year bloke over there tried to convince us..." Lily looked over her friend's shoulder at the "fifth year bloke over there" who was currently trying to catch the chair on fire...

Lily looked at Lexi again. "You're drunk?" she asked, more bewildered by it than anything else.

Lexi paused thoughtfully. "That's definitely a possibility." She exhaled heavily before she took another drink.

"No, it's a fact," said Lily dryly, getting the idea from the sample of breadth. "Why are you drunk? Where's Frank?"

"'_You've poisoned me, but I'm already dead!'_" sang Lexi quietly, as the real version played in the background. _"'Poisoned me, but I'm already dead! Can't kill me, 'cos you've already done it- 'Can't beat me, 'cos I've already run it!'_"

Lily sighed and leaned against the table. Despite the fact that she loved this song, Lexi drunk was far too monumental an occasion for her to give in and let the girl sing it. "Lex! Hey, Lexi!" Lily persisted, slapping her friend lightly on the cheek.

"_You've poisoned me girl, but I poisoned you too... I..._ Hey! That hurt, Lilith!" Lexi rubbed her cheek, offended.

"Lexi: where is Frank?" asked Lily, slowly and clearly.

"Frank," sighed Lexi. "Frank's sweet. It's too bad... _too bad_... too..."

"What's too bad?" Lily groaned, running a hand through her hair irritably.

"About Frank," Lexi replied. "No more Frank... No more..."

"What'd you do? Kill him?"

"No, no," Lexi exhaled, in a sing-song-y voice. "No, he broke up with us... just before the... er... the match! Yesh, the match. 'Lexi, I don't know if we're right...' or something like that... I can't remember the phraseology but it was... hey! You took my drink!"

"He broke up with you?" Lily asked, shocked, holding the glass out of Lexi's reach.

"Merry Christmas," sighed Lexi, which could only be assumed to be a positive reply.

"_What?_ Lexi- hey, Lexi, stay with me. Why'd he break up with you? Why did Frank break up with you?"

"'Cos we're not right for... not good for him... that's what he said. He says, 'You should be with someone better... we're not good...'" Lexi trailed off and grabbed her drink from Lily's unsuspecting hand. It was suddenly very apparent why Lex had gotten herself drunk.

"You're going to bed," sighed Lily, slipping an arm around her friend to support her on the way up to the dormitory.

Lexi sighed and finished her drink. "That's a superior idea, that is..."

The Head Girl pulled slowly but surely her friend towards the dormitories. However, halfway up the stair, she glanced back at the moderately crowded room and saw James and Redival near the fireplace. She was leaning against the wall and he was hovering over her, and the two threatened to snog at any moment.

Feeling sick, Lily decided it would be a good time for _her_ to go to bed as well.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

Lily was late for the Head Meeting on the Saturday before Christmas (incidentally, the Saturday immediately following the Quidditch match), but James was even later. Lily could hear him arrive from where she sat, half asleep, in the chair in the Meeting Room. But he was talking to someone (in any case, he was talking, and he _probably_ wasn't talking to himself).

The Head Girl woke up slightly and crossed the room to the door. However, it was suddenly quiet, and Lily wondered if she'd dreamed his coming. Then she heard a breathy voice and laughing that _wasn't_ James's.

"So... everything's okay?" this _was_ James...

"Yeah, everything's fine now," said a girl's voice: Redival's.

"Well then, I'll see you later, Redival?"

"_James_!"

"What? Oh, right... Red. See you later, Red..."

"See you, Jay!"

Lily took a step back from the door and walked over to her seat again, as she heard Redival's departing steps. James opened the door, rolling his eyes.

"Hey," he said, yawning and looking half asleep. Everyone who had attended the Gryffindor Party (which had been ended around four-thirty when McGonagall came in and shouted them all to death) had been exhausted all day.

"Hi," replied Lily coldly. James took his seat across from her, not noticing.

"Have a good time last night?" he continued lazily.

"Sure."

"We were lucky that WWN was having 'Snitch Snatch' night and not a Celestina Warbeck night or something... the music was great, eh?"

"Sure."

"Got a hang over?"

"'Wasn't drunk."

"Me either."

Lily raised her eyes skeptically. "Let's get this over with."

James looked at the prefect meeting schedule Lily slid across the table to him, then looked up at her. "Is something wrong?" he asked, a little defensively.

"No. Why would it be?"

"I don't know; you tell me."

"How can _I_ tell _you_, if you're the one whose imagining things?"

"Well if there _was_ something wrong, then you _would_ be able to tell me."

"Well there isn't!"

"Well alright then!"

"Well okay!"

"Alright!"

A lovely and oh-so-familiar annoyed silence ensued as they pretended to look over the papers left for them. Lily broke it with the rather dull announcement to James that: "McGonagall wants you to change the date for the Hufflepuff/Slytherin match to earlier in March, because it interferes with a teacher meeting."

James nodded and jotted something down on the Quidditch schedule next to him.

"How does March 14th sound?"

Lily checked a schedule. "Whatever, sure..." she replied shortly.

James sighed irritably, setting down his papers. He folded his arms and leaned the chair back, so that it rocked slightly on the back two legs. "What is it?" he demanded.

"What is what?" asked Lily coolly.

"Well, for someone who isn't hung over, you're awfully _bitchy_ this morning!"

"As always, I'm sure."

James glared, and was about to retort, when a thought occurred to him.

"I almost forgot. Did you talk to Grossman?"

'_Damn decent of you to think of it,'_ thought Lily irrationally. _'He asks me to interrogate the worst teacher in the school, and then doesn't even ask how it went for two days!'_

"Evans?" asked James, when she did not reply immediately. "Hey! Red! You okay?"

Snapping out of reverie, Lily glared. "Oh, so _I'm_ 'Red' again, am I?"

This retort completely threw James off. "Er..."

Lily stood up abruptly and went to warm herself by the fireplace.

"What are you talking about?" asked the poor Head Boy, clueless.

"Nothing, nothing, Potter! I just wasn't aware that I was to be referred to by that anymore."

James was taken aback by the particularly sharp tone she used. They were _supposed _to be on truce at the moment, and though they had broken truces a million times in the past, it was usually for a reason.

"I always call... what the bloody hell are you _talking_ about?"

"Me? Nothing. Nothing at all. I'm just rambling on as always... don't pay attention to..." her words faded into muttering about who knew what, and James ran a hand through his already messy hair. His obviously keen sensory skills were telling him she was angry with him, or utterly mad.

There was silence when Lily broke off, and he stood up then sat down three times, before he settled on sitting. "Um... did I do something? Is it me your mad at or… something else? Does this have to do with Grossman?"

"No."

"Well then why the hell are you being like this?"

"Oh never mind it, _Jay_," Lily retorted.

And she turned from her place at the fire and exited the room.

James staid put, too confused to react for quite some time. Lily Evans had just walked out of a Head meeting for absolutely _no _reason. He was expecting the world to end any minute. Girls- and there was no denying it- were insane. He checked his watch: McGonagall would be by in a little over a half hour to dismiss them... Lily would get in trouble for not being there, if he (James) didn't lie to the Deputy Headmistress for her.

On further consideration, he wasn't sure if he was going to...

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

_N/C:_ And there it is! Chapter 13. It did not, sadly, turn out like I wanted it to, simply because the words would not arrange themselves properly. Hopefully, it's decent though. PLEASE REVIEW! I was SO happy with the feedback I got for the last chapter, you have _no_ idea! A repeat of that would be SO unbelievably wonderful! Love to reviewers!

And many thanks to the lovely anonymous reviewers: **Kay** (help yourself to imaginary cookies), **Tasz** (thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter... there isn't so much 'verbal agenda' I suppose, but in the next couple of chapter we'll get more of that...), **iheartedison** (YAY! NEW READER! Thanks so much for reviewing, and I'm SO glad you like the story), **fanficreader **(lol, true),and **a** (thank-you much). The lovely logger-ins have been replied to in the boring, kosher way :-P. Love to all you guys!

Anyway, Chapter 14 may or may not be easier to write, and in any case, will be up hopefully MUCH more quickly than Ch. 13. Includes Christmas Eve, a serious left turn down the direction this story will be going, and a cliffhanger! Lyl!

Cheers,

-Jewels-


	14. Oh Come All Ye Dead

_A/N:_ I** heart **reviewers! Anyway, this chapter includes stuff for all those little shippy hearts, and for all those dying for me to develop the plot. Hopefully, you'll all enjoy. And be a love and review me, wont you?

_History_: I didn't think anything good up. I just stole it. Credit to JKR.

_Recap_: invitations arrive for Slughorn's Christmas Party. James asks Redival; Lily feels weird, is dateless, and conquers the urge to murder some sixth year girls.

Love to reviewers!

**Chapter 14- "Oh Come All Ye Dead"  
**"_I've been in love before, and I found out that love was more than just holding hands..." -_The Beatles, **"If I Fell"**

Christmas Eve morning came and passed.

Another layer of snow coated the ground and Lily and her friends spent the majority of the afternoon enjoying it and the childish pleasures it provided. But none of them- with the possible exception of Eden- seemed particularly enthused about the approaching party. And Lily could not for the life of her figure out why this was true of herself.

What was lacking?

Slughorn had promised _two_ surprises explicitly for her, the food was bound to be good, and the room would be full of important witches and wizards. Why was this party different from the numerous "Slug Club" get-togethers she'd gone to over the years? Why dread it so?

Whatever the reason was, the redhead felt odd as she slipped into her dress robes that evening. Her stomach- though it ought to have been satisfied from dinner- felt empty and unsettled; her head- though entirely blank- seemed stuffed with incoherent information that she felt she ought to have understood.

She was apprehensive about the damned party, and there was no other way to interpret it.

"You look good," Eden told her, as she entered the dormitory from the bathroom, adjusting the front of her own newly donned dress robes: red and silver ones.

"Thanks," was the now clothed Lily's only reply. She sat down on Alice's tidily made-up and unoccupied bed to put on her shoes. Eden and she were the only two girls left in the dormitory now, for Alice had run off to meet with Leander ten minutes ago, and Lexi was trying to find her deceased guest- a forgetful ghost who was bound to be somewhere between the third and seventh floors. Rachel was the only other girl who shared the dormitory with them, and she was with her sixth year friends, as they painted each other's nails, or did whatever it was that those particular sixteen-year-olds did.

Lily looked down at her tiny, bare feet. A long faint scar ran along the outer side of the left foot, and the Head Girl traced the mark with her index finger thoughtfully. _'From the forest_,' she thought dispassionately. The cuts had long since healed, but one or two of the deeper ones had left reminders of the rocks and sticks she'd trampled shoeless on, though, technically, she could not remember them. At least, not really.

"Blue is a good color on you," Eden informed her, as she too sat down on the bed. She spoke more quietly and less frequently than usual, possibly sensing Lily's odd mood.

"Thanks," Lily repeated. "I thought I'd try something new, y'know. It doesn't clash with my hair, does it?"

"Not at all." The blonde paused as she buckled her own strappy silver shoes. When she straitened up, she looked intently over at Lily. "Are you okay, Red?"

"Yeah," lied Lily. "I'm fine... just kinda hungry..."

"Wishing Elijah was here?" asked Eden, rising and adjusting the athletic sort of hood on her robes.

Lily stepped into her heels and stood as well. "Definitely," she said, nodding. "Are you ready to go?"

"Just about," Eden responded. "I've got to do my hair still." The blonde went over to the vanity, but Lily took a brush off the nightstand and brushed through her thick red locks by the reflection in the window. In honesty, she didn't care how it looked. She let it lay loose and wavy around her shoulders. There was no one going to the party that she felt she needed to spend hours on her hair over.

"Alright," sighed Eden, standing from the desk and turning to face the completed Lily. "How do I look?"

"Perfect as usual," Lily deadpanned.

"Don't be so enthusiastic," said Eden sarcastically, touching the hairpins that held a few locks in the knot on the back of her head. "Ready? I promised I'd meet Rian and Peeves at quarter till... I don't really care if I keep Rian waiting, but Peeves might blow spit-wads at me or some such."

Lily linked arms with her friend, and the two made their way (bravely) out of the dormitory.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"Where's Slughorn?"

"Wow, Lily. You look... great. Really."

Lily tried to smile and managed some false excuse for one. "Thanks," she replied to Rachel Brossle, who stood just inside Slughorn's magically magnified office, which was much more of a Hall now. The Potions Master himself was nowhere to be found, although Rachel did carry Sirius Black on her arm (or was he carrying her?). "But have you seen Slughorn?" Lily pressed.

"Um... I dunno," said Rachel distractedly, "Oh, hi, Nick!" she added, as Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, floated into the office, just above Lily. "Merlin, Lily- how'd you ever get Nick? Every Gryffindor wanted to invite him!"

"I asked him and he answered," Lily replied irritably. "Hey, Sirius."

"Hey there, Red," Sirius replied more cordially than usual. "Dateless, are you? _The_ Lily Evans is _dateless?_"

"Yeah... too bad you're with Rach, or I'd steal you away..."

"I'd gladly take you both," assured Sirius with a roguish grin.

"I don't know if _I_ could sway your attention," Lily said, observing Rachel's shimmering gold, rather low-cut dress robes.

"I'm sure you'd find a way," the Marauder contradicted.

Before Lily could counter this with a further flirtatious remark, with which to annoy Rachel, Slughorn surfaced. "Lily!" he said, positively beaming, as he pushed his wide way through a few students, and shook her hand jovially.

The Head Girl stepped further into the office/party room and fell among the already gathered crowd. "Hello Professor," she replied. "Love what you've down with the place..." There was a distinct note of sarcasm as she pointed to the black decorations intermixed with the red and green ones.

"Why thank-you," said Slughorn, too merry to be insulted. "And Sir Nicolas! It is a pleasure to see you again!" He bowed politely, all the while beaming, to Nearly Headless Nick, who responded with a low, genteel bow of his own. "If you would like, the other ghosts seem to have gathered over near the stair... just there..." Slughorn pointed to where three-dozen or so ghosts were socializing across the room.

Nicolas paid a few compliments before floating over to join his fellow dead friends.

"Sir Nicolas," said Slughorn, once Nick had gone; "I should have guessed you'd get him first... how'd you do it?"

"Asked him the second I got the invite," Lily replied.

"I should have guessed," repeated Slughorn with a smile. "Are you hungry? There are some Hors d'oeuvres over here..."

"No thanks... I'm fine from dinner..."

"Yes, yes," continued Slughorn, in a distracted manner. "Also, there's a wizard from the Ministry I'd like you to meet... but Dom doesn't seem to have arrived yet..."

"Dom?"

"Dominic Gillygold... he's in the Department of International Cooperation and I wanted you to speak to him but... well, he'll be along in a bit, I suppose."

"Is he one of the surprises?" asked Lily skeptically.

Slughorn laughed. "No, no..."

Lily humored her would-be patron with a nod, and looked about for someone who might interest her. Celestina Warbeck- a singer- was chatting with a uniformed auror. But Lily had never been a big fan of Celestina Warbeck's ballads...

There was a Quidditch player that Lily recognized as Chaser Blakely Odin... but Lily didn't like the Tornadoes...

A highly made-up witch made the rim of her glass whistle from where she stood near the drink table, and Lily knew her to be the editor of "Witch Weekly," Betty Nordwick. But the woman looked positively morose...

Slughorn was following her stare with interest, as if hoping to catch her approval, and Lily forced herself to turn and smile at him. "This looks amazing... but you need to get back to greeting guests, right? I'll be fine..."

This seemed to thrill the Professor, who smiled and offered some pleasantry before returning to his post by the door. Lily mingled through the noisy crowd, not particularly interested in anyone. She was wondering if it was a mistake to come...

With a glance over her shoulder, the redhead saw Slughorn greeting two new arrivals. James and Redival. The latter looked beautiful of course: her usually loosely curly hair was now pin strait with a few locks braided here and there. Her make up was liberally but tastefully, applied. Her robes were pale pink in color, and flattering. Lily could not have criticized her if she had wanted to. Not that she _did_ want to, of course. Why would she?

James looked sharp in simple but undeniably "cool" black robes.

The Head Girl barely spared him a moment's glance, before turning and hurrying through the crowd again. She somehow managed to get to a table of drinks, and as she poured herself something non-alcoholic, she was accosted by Remus Lupin and his pretty Ravenclaw date, Dora Leadwood.

"Hey, Lily," said the two simultaneously.

"Hi, guys," Lily replied politely, glad to see someone she knew and liked. "Enjoying yourselves?"

"Mhm..." answered Remus. "Have you seen the stage? I wonder what it's for..."

"What stage?"

"You haven't seen it?" asked Dora curiously. "Oh, well... it's just over there..." she pointed somewhere that Lily couldn't see from her position. "It's pretty large, but it's empty, and we don't know what it's for... Slughorn wont tell us anything..."

"You don't think Celestina Warbeck is going to perform, do you?" asked Lily, fearfully.

"Celestina Warbeck?" gasped Dora. "Is _she_ here? I positively _adore_ her music! Where is she? Will she sing?"

"Oh... er... she's... she's around here somewhere," Lily answered awkwardly.

Dora squealed. "Will you come with me to find her, Remus?" she pleaded.

With a wink at Lily, Remus nodded and followed his date through the crowd to find the singer. Fortunately, the redhead spotted Lexi nearby and made her way towards her friend.

Lexi did not seem to be enjoying herself, but that must have been part of a conscious decision on her part. For one thing, she looked gorgeous, having opted for slightly eccentric dress robes in light green with accessories in bright orange that _only_ Lexi could pull off. For another thing, a handsome twenty-something wizard was trying to chat her up. Lily simply could not find it in her heart to pity the girl. Much.

Nevertheless, she could read her friend's discomfort easily, and resolved to make some use of herself. Sidestepping two chatty witches, Lily approached her friend. "Ohmigosh, Lexi!" she squealed in the most un-Lily-like voice she could muster. She pretended to hurry over excitedly and threw her arms around her friend's shoulders.

Lexi stared in bewilderment at Lily. The wizard hitting on her looked taken aback.

"Ohmigosh, _Lexi!_ Brian Coxly just asked me to _dance_ with him!" giggled the redhead, top speed.

"Er... that's..."

"Yeah! Just _marvy_! Come here! We need to strategize!" With a final girly giggle and a wink (inspired by Remus) at the baffled wizard, Lily pulled her friend through the crowd and away from him. When they were out of his line of vision, Lily stopped and Lexi gave her a "look."

"Are you drunk?" she asked uncertainly.

"_No_," said Lily, rolling her eyebrows. "I was rescuing you from that bloke!"

"Oh," was all Lexi said. Then she added presently in typical Lexi form: "A million thanks."

"You're welcome. You... you didn't _want_ to talk to him, did you?"

"No, no," Lexi assured her. "We were just surprised, is all. You look marvelous, by the way; blue is a fine color on you."

"And you're going for the avocado look, are you?" joked Lily.

"It's celadon," Lexi corrected with a smirk.

"Of course."

"Well... er... we'll be seeing you..." Lexi finished at length. "There's an author over near the stage-what-ho that I wanted to meet..." She turned to leave, but Lily delayed it, by calling after her.

"Are you upset about Frank?" the redhead asked, once she had the other's attention.

The other did not answer at first, but when she did, it was with conviction. "No. I'm fine. Fare ye well and all that jazz..." With that, Lexi made her exit. Again, Lily was not left alone and pitying long.

"Lily!"

She saw Slughorn approaching once more. "Lily!" he repeated, practically shoving a fifth year out of the way to get to her. "Lily- someone's just arrived I want you to see!"

Lily raised her eyebrows, but followed the Professor wherever it was they were going. "Is this your 'Dom' from the Ministry?" she inquired.

"No, no," Slughorn sighed dismissively; "Dom hasn't arrived yet... don't know where he could be... And neither has Gilbert, and I _had_ so wanted to speak with him about some school security matters. But Korcesh is completely unpunctual, I'm sure he'll show up."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Well then who is it?" she asked curiously.

Slughorn acted as if he hadn't heard her. "I think you'll enjoy this guest a little more... I'd rather hoped he'd be able to come... ah, here we are..." the emerged from the crowd on the opposite end of the room. Lily looked over Slughorn's shoulder at the guest. "I trust you two know each other..."

Lily gasped.

Standing just on the other side of Professor Slughorn, was a handsome man of about eighteen. He was tall and slim, with slick, dark brown hair, gray eyes, and tanned skin. Elijah Trent.

Elijah grinned at the look of shock registered on Lily's face.

"Are you happy, sad, or angry?" he asked charmingly. Lily sidestepped Slughorn to get a closer look at the surprise guest.

"I thought you were out of the country," she murmured, breathless with... something.

"Horace managed to arrange a Floo step-up for me so I could get back here for a couple of hours tonight."

Lily laughed. "'Horace?'" she mimicked. "When did you start calling him that?"

"Hey! I'm graduated!" Elijah defended, laughing as well. "I don't have to call anyone 'Professor' anymore!"

"I don't know about that," muttered Slughorn, with a simper. "But I'll leave you two to catch up..." he gave the couple a final wave, then went off to speak with Betty Nordwick. Lily smiled after him, then turned to Elijah again. Her smile grew broader. She slipped her arm around his shoulders and allowed him to kiss her most unchastely on the lips.

When they broke apart, he smiled down at her. "You never answered my question," he informed her; "Happy, sad, or angry?"

"Angry, definitely..." Lily whispered in reply, kissing him lightly on the lips again.

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding!" Then her voice lowered that there could be no doubt in the sincerity of the next words. "You have no idea how much I've missed you." There was a note of desperateness in her tone as well. Elijah grinned.

"Good."

He steered her over towards a bench along the wall, and the pair sat down. Brushing a lock of ginger hair behind her ear, Elijah stroked her lower jaw with his index finger. "I'm a mess," she whispered, as the idea struck her. This was not _entirely _true. Her hair, though as aforementioned, carelessly done, was in the style it normally was, and therefore gorgeous. Her robes were undeniably beautiful (dark blue with long, bell-shaped sleeves and silver embroidery about the U-neck), and her make-up- though not as expensive or explicit as Redival Shelley's- flattered her features nicely.

However, in Lily's book, she was a mess.

"You're always perfect," Elijah insisted, smiling gently. "Though, I have to admit: I half expected you to be seducing half the blokes in the school with clingy, low-cut robes..."

"Hey," laughed Lily; "Give credit where credit is due... I'm _loyal_." As if to prove her point, Lily leaned over and tasted his lips once more. Elijah was more than willing to reciprocate...

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"Professor! Hey, Professor!"

James waved down the Potions Master through the crowd. Slughorn looked about obliviously for a moment before spotting his addressor and pushing towards the Head Boy. "Hello again, Potter... Miss Shelley... what can I do for you?"

"What's the stage for?" James patted the stage that they stood next to and quirked an eyebrow curiously.

Slughorn's face contorted into a mischievous simper. "Oh, you'll see soon enough..."

"I saw Celestina Warbeck wandering about... she's not going to _sing_ is she?"

"No, no... I engaged someone else to perform- old friends of mine- as a surprise for one of my guests..." Slughorn simpered more broadly. "But you'll see soon enough... I can't tell you yet... it would completely ruin my surprise!"

James grinned. "Will I like it? I don't think I'll ever recover from when Tauri Boardman sang in fourth year..."

"I _like_ Tauri Boardman!" pouted Redival.

"In her excuse," Slughorn sighed, "She was drunk..."

"There's _no_ excuse for that monstrosity," James insisted, causing his date to further scowl. "Sorry, Redival..." he added, slightly guiltily.

"Oh my," Slughorn interjected suddenly; "there's Ragmar..." His eyes had drifted to a tall, lanky man who looked lost as he mingled in the crowd; "I promised I'd show him some energy potions... If you two will excuse me..." He bowed to the couple and hurried away to play host.

Redival still looked disgruntled, so James suggested they get drinks, with the vague hope of distracting her. Three butterbeers and ten minutes of a flirtatious Redival later, James wanted to sit down. He'd been "going out" with the girl for about a week, and he didn't think they'd had one real conversation the whole time.

That was pathetic. That was... Sirius-like.

Speaking of which...

"Hey Prongs! Prongs! _James Potter!_"

The Head Boy turned and saw Sirius heading over, with Eden Dearborn in tow. He raised an eyebrow as his friend became close enough to converse with, and eyed Eden (who looked, he noted, exceptionally good tonight). "Traded in, have you?" he asked.

Redival glared at Sirius. Rachel Brossle was her best friend.

"What? No! _No!_" assured Sirius, and Eden smirked. "No, I was wondering if you'd seen Rach, actually. Thought she might've come to see Redival or something."

"We haven't seen her," Redival informed them.

"And Eden was wondering...?" James trailed off, amused.

"I was wondering if you'd seen Lily," Eden said. "I've asked all of the five other people I know in the room, and can't find her."

"I like your dress robes," Redival interjected unimportantly.

Eden and Sirius raised their respective eyebrows at her for a moment, then turned to James again. "_Anyway_," Sirius continued; "you don't have any idea where Rach might be?"

"Check with the ghosts," James shrugged. "Didn't she say something about wanting to meet The Fat Friar yesterday?" Sirius sighed and nodded, before trekking off towards a group of ghosts over near the mystery stage.

"No, they're really nice," Redival was saying to Eden. "Sort of sporty but elegant..."

"Thanks," said Eden, a little bewildered. "Yours are really nice too... Pink looks... er... good on you. Anyway, if you haven't seen Lily..." she cast one last hopeful look at James, who shook his head... "then, I'll leave you to it." She turned to leave, and then stopped and looked over her shoulder to look at the Head Boy. "Oh, James, did you know? You're parents are here..."

"_What?_"

"Yeah, I know... weird, isn't it? But your Dad's pretty famous, right?"

"Where are they?" asked Redival; "I'd _love_ to meet them!"

Feeling that this was not going in the direction he wanted at the moment, James thought quickly. "Er... thanks, yeah... um... I'll find them later... I saw Doc around too, by the way, E."

Eden rolled her blue eyes. "Yeah, me too. Luckily Rian was around for me to hide behind... now where did that damn Ravenclaw go?" Eden disappeared into the crowd looking for her date, and Redival looked curiously at her boyfriend.

"Why don't you want to go find your parents?"

"Um... no reason," was the too hasty to be legitimate reply.

"Is it that you don't want them to meet me?" asked Redival, a little hurt.

"What? No! Not at all..."

"Then you... don't want me to meet them?"

James considered this. "Well er... y'see, they're kind of on the strange side..."

Redival laughed. "Is that all?"

"Maybe?"

Smirking, Redival stood on her tiptoes and kissed James lightly on the lips. "If you really don't think I should..."

"I really don't think you should," said James, thrilled at the excuse.

"Alright. We wont." She kissed him a little less chastely, despite the fact that they were in the middle of a crowded room, and James pulled her out of the way, with the intention of sitting down on one of the benches along the wall.

When they were seated, Redival leaned over and continued to kiss him. He leaned back slightly, responding undeniably. Then suddenly, he was startled as his shoulder made contact with something that wasn't the wall. A person. He broke apart quickly from a confused Redival, and was met with two, startled emerald green eyes.

"Evans!"

"James..."

"Potter?" –This from a familiar looking wizard on Lily's other side.

"Lily?"

"Redival..."

"Trent?"

"Elijah?"

Awkwardness settled on the two couples as they stared at each other. Then, Elijah Trent began to laugh. "I guess we both though this was a good spot, eh, Potter?" he said, reaching out a hand to shake James's. "How's Hogwarts treating you?"

"Good," said James distrustfully, taking the hand. "What are you doing here? Last I heard you were in the Ministry..."

"Yeah, I was out of the country, but Slughorn managed for me to get out tonight," Elijah replied, kissing Lily on the cheek. _She,_ meanwhile, was looking fixedly at Redival, the ceiling, the floor, that ugly warlock nearby... anywhere but at her boyfriend or James. "Apparently I'm some kind of surprise for Lily, here..."

"One she was apparently enjoying..." James said, forcing a smirk.

Elijah shrugged. "Whatever I can do to help. And you..." he looked over at James's date. "You're... Redival Shelley, aren't you?"

She nodded and smiled a gorgeous smile that made James proud. He noticed Lily was looking resolutely away. "Yeah, I know you," Elijah continued, smiling and shaking her hand as well. "You went out with one of my old dorm mates for a while... Jonathon Sharp..."

Redival's smile faltered. "Two years ago," she said firmly.

"Mhm... it's nice to see you again. Are you a seventh year?"

"Sixth year."

"Ah, right... ya, I remember... you were two years younger than Jonathon. Anyway, Potter, it's been a while. How's you're the Team doing in Quidditch this year? You played Ravenclaw yet?"

"My house did... I wasn't able to play in the match..."

"He was put in detention for pranking Filch," Lily interjected coolly, speaking for the first time since she'd uttered: "Redival."

"_Wrongly_ put in detention," James corrected, his tone icy and his eyes on Lily, who merely shrugged.

"I see you two are getting along as well as ever," laughed Elijah merrily. "So you lost to Ravenclaw?"

"Mmhm." James's eyes were still trying to bore holes into Lily's. "But won to Hufflepuff... and Ravenclaw's out of the running..."

Elijah swore mildly. "Too bad... 'no doubt because I'm not playing anymore, eh?"

"No doubt."

It was at this point that both Redival and Elijah seemed to realize that their respective dates were trying to kill each other with glares, and decided to intervene. "Um... James," said the blonde girl awkwardly; "why don't we go try some hors d'oeuvres? Remus said there was this French stuff that..."

Redival didn't finish the sentence as her hand tried to steer James out of his seat. Eventually, he stood on his own accord and followed her to the food table, shaking himself mentally. After all, why let _her_ get to him? It was just Evans. Just Lily.

"Are you okay?" asked Elijah gently to Lily, once the other two had gone.

"No doubt they're off to find another spot to snog..." murmured the girlfriend, before turning back to Elijah.

"Er... I asked if you were okay..."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Potter is just a wanker sometimes..." Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Well... all the time, yeah," she added. "He's been getting on my nerves a lot this year..."

"When does he not?"

"More than usual. He's just so..."

"Rebellious?"

"Oh, it's not even that. Rebellious is one thing... but he's so..." Lily paused. What was Potter? He was... something. A definite something. She just couldn't think of a single word to describe him at the moment. Stupid vocabulary. "Well, _you_ know," Lily continued presently. "He just is."

Elijah grinned. "Damn good seeker, though. And a brilliant student, from what I hear."

"Whose side are you on, anyway?"

Elijah kissed Lily's lips briefly but passionately, and murmured, with a smile: "Yours."

Lily kissed him back. "As it should be."

Redival was not having as much luck with James at the moment. They came to the table and the blonde sighed at her boyfriend. "What's the matter with you, anyway, James?"

"Nothing... what's that?" He pointed to a dish of green spread.

"How should I know? And why are you always fighting with Lily? Why can't you just get along? I mean, I'm alright with you hating her, but you don't have to be so loud about it."

"You sound like Moony."

"Moony?"

"Remus."

"Merlin, I hope not. Here. Eat something."

Redival handed him something that looked like stuffed mushrooms. He took one and ate it, and she made a face. "You actually _like_ stuffed mushrooms?"

"Yes."

She shrugged and ate one too, then put the dish down quickly and poured herself some water. James grinned and looked away. His eyes fell on Slughorn, who was speaking with a group of Hogwarts Students he'd invited. He seemed to be beckoning them across the room. James watched in interest until the Potions Master came over to Redival and him.

"James! Come, come along! Don't want to miss anything..."

James took Redival by the hand and followed Slughorn across the hall to where the Professor had arranged the other young people. It happened to be just in front of the mysterious stage. James and Redival exchanged curious looks as Slughorn hurried off, muttering.

"What's he on about?" Redival wondered aloud.

"Damned if I know... Looks like he's collecting Evans and her Boy Toy, though."

Redival sighed and looked about the crowd to find someone to talk to. Sirius and Rachel stood nearby, and she immediately struck up a conversation with the latter. Sirius was deep in conversation with Paul Montreal, but wouldn't have found their conversation interesting anyway.

Slughorn pushed his way to the very front of the crowd (everyone seemed to be facing the stage now), followed closely by an excited but confused looking Lily, with a simply excited looking Elijah holding her hand. James was standing just to the left of Slughorn, and Lily and Elijah to his right, but the Head students purposefully avoided each other's eyes.

"Tonight," Slughorn announced in so loud a voice that the room was mostly silenced; "we have some very special guests! I taught all of them in their time here- though, sadly, only one of them staid after O.W.L.s- but they were pleasures to teach... very entertaining. As they still are, according to the sales records." Slughorn chuckled at the joke only he understood. "Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present..."

A loud bang filled the air and interrupted the Potion Master's speech, as golden smoke suddenly enveloped the formerly bare stage behind him. The smoke cleared and as the realization hit the onlookers that four wizards and some equipment were now standing on the stage, Slughorn finished...

"Snitch Snatch!"

Whether these words or simply the opening cords to the song registered first to the crowd can't be determined, but sometime in the next millisecond another realization hit the crowd (primarily the young people that Slughorn had gathered in front of the stage), and everyone screamed. Lily was by no means an exception. Snitch Snatch. The. Best. Band. Ever. Snitch Snatch was at _Hogwarts_. Three feet in front of her.

Still screaming and cheering the with rest, Lily turned to the Potions Master and grinned broadly. Surprise number two: few things could have matched the first one, but this was probably one of them.

"Hey, Lily!" shouted Elijah over the din. "Dance with me?"

And suddenly everyone was dancing to the music that blasted in the Hall, and Lily and Elijah joined in.

The first song was one of Lily's favorites: a heavy but dance-able song entitled, "Magic Carpet Ride." And she simply let the music flow through her- dancing with Elijah, dancing around Elijah, dancing with the good-looking Ravenclaw _next_ to Elijah, but always coming back to her boyfriend.

And at one point, as she spun around and around resolutely not becoming dizzy, she caught a glimpse of Potter dancing with a girl who was not Redival. For the first time in weeks- Lily reflected as she returned to Elijah- she felt (Heaven help her) relaxed.

Exactly how many songs had passed, Lily did not know, but by the time Elijah pulled her out of the mob of dancing young people, she was pretty sure they'd gone through two or three albums. Sweating, but positively exhilarated, the couple made their way over to the miraculously supplied drink table and grabbed butterbeers.

As he popped the lid off his own, however, Elijah gasped.

_"What's the matter?"_ shouted Lily, over the din of the song "Amortentia."

_"See that wizard over there?" _Elijah replied, his shout sounding anxious. Lily nodded, perceiving the stiff looking wizard at whom Elijah was pointing. "_He's the head of my sub-department!"_

_"What's so bad about that?"_

"_What if he saw me dancing, Lily?"_ Lily did not catch on._ "He'll think I'm irresponsible!_"

Lily stared at her boyfriend for a moment, before bursting out laughing. "_That's ridiculous! You're bloody eighteen... he's thick if he thinks you're gonna act like a sixty-year-old!"_

"_He's a brilliant wizard_!" Elijah informed her.

Lily nodded and finished her butterbeer. _"Okay, great. Let's dance!"_

Elijah looked at her as if she'd said something sacrilegious. "_I just told you! I can't _dance!_ What if he sees me?_"

"_We'll go up near the stage, so he can't see us there!"_

_"_LILY!"

"ELIJAH. C'mon! Please?" She looked pleadingly at him.

Elijah shook his head. "No, c'mon..." he hollered; "let's just go sit on the bench over there..."

"Oh, 'cos if we're snogging, he'll think you're entirely responsible!" Lily bellowed sarcastically.

_"Who says we're gonna snog?"_

"_It's implied!_"

The song ended, and Lily sighed. "Elijah Trent," she said; "_Snitch Snatch_ is in the room. _Snitch Snatch._ The. Best. Band. EVER. And you don't want to dance because you're afraid of what someone from work might think? It's _Snitch Snatch!_"

"I _do_ want to dance, it's just... I shouldn't. You know?"

Lily stared blankly at him. "Er... _no!_"

The next song started up.

"Oh Merlin, Elijah!" begged the redhead; "This is the best one! This is 'The Wanderers' song!"

Elijah paused to listen to the opening cord. "I don't like it," he said finally.

"'Lijah... how can you not like this song? It's mixing the _best_ Quidditch team with the _best_ band... it's pretty much perfect! In fact, if it were any more perfect, the universe would undoubtedly implode!"

"_Lily..._"

"I'm dancing," Lily said firmly. "Either with you, or with one of my adrenaline-rushed classmates in there..." She pointed at the mob of dancing young people.

"_Lily_..."

"See you in a few, Elijah..." And with that, Lily entered the throng and began to dance with two or three sixth year males.

Somewhere between the end of the first verse and the beginning of the chorus, Lily supposed she was being selfish. Elijah was only here for a short time, and she wouldn't even sit and talk with him for a little while. A sudden wave of guilt swept over the girl, and she looked over the heads of everyone she could to the more composed part of the party, where the non-dancers talked and drank champagne.

She spotted Elijah. He was talking and laughing with the stiff wizard from before and a pretty brunette twenty-something.

'_Well fine,_' thought Lily; '_I'll guess I'll dance the next song too..._'

And she did. And the next. And the next. And the next...

As a matter of fact, she danced for the next two hours, until every single fast moving Snitch Snatch song ever composed was used up, and they started on the slow dances (for couples). Lily pulled out of the thinning crowd and went to get herself another drink. At the table, she met with Slughorn again.

"Enjoying yourself?"

"You have _no_ idea! I mean... Snitch Snatch. It's _perfect_."

Slughorn smirked proudly, then added more seriously: "Er... Elijah left half an hour ago..."

Lily drank her butterbeer. It was very odd, she supposed. For some reason, she felt entirely indifferent. She tried to force her face into a look of regret; "Did he? Well... er... thank you for arranging for him to come. It was really sweet of you."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic, Lily," Slughorn replied wryly.

Lily sighed. "I'm gonna go sit down and watch the happy couples snog on the dance floor... see you later, okay?"

Slughorn nodded, and Lily departed for the bench along the wall. From where she now sat, she could see the whole room. On the dance floor, Sirius was dancing more traditionally but extremely well with Rachel. Eden was with Rian Orlando, who obviously couldn't believe his luck. Collista Malfoy of Slytherin was looking ready to tear off her sharp-featured Slytherin date's clothes right there on the dance floor. James was rotating with Redival close to the stage.

Lily did not watch them long.

"May I sit here?" asked a voice, causing Lily to start. She looked up, and saw a witch standing above her, holding strappy dress shoes in her hands and bearing a hopeful look.

"Oh, yeah... no one's sitting there..."

The witch took a seat, and began to massage her dainty feet. She was probably in her late forties, but exceptionally attractive. She was tall and thin, and her hair was reddish brown and styled in short, fashionable layers. The witch wore trendy dress robes of lime green that had a high collar in the back and a slightly showy v-neck in the front.

"Are you alright?" asked Lily, noticing the woman's apparent pain.

"Oh, I'm fine, thank-you. It's these stupid shoes... beautiful, but completely impractical. Are you a student here?"

"Yeah, I'm a seventh year."

"I see." She paused, then continued: "Do you know my son then? James Potter... he's a Gryffindor..."

Lily gaped. "Y-you're James Potter's mother?"

"That's what they tell me. Do you know the little prat?"

"He's in my house and year," was all Lily could say. After all, she couldn't very well go into the details of their "relationship," could she?

"I pity you, Darling. What's your name?"

"Lily Evans."

"I pity you more than..." laughed Mrs. Potter. "I've heard a lot about you."

Lily wasn't quite sure how to reply to this. "You have?"

"Oh yes."

"From... James?"

"Well, it's not as if he goes and talks to me directly about it," said Mrs. Potter slowly; "Teenage boys never talk to their parents. It's more like what I overhear when he and his friends 'converse' while wolfing down breakfast over the Holidays."

"Ah."

"Yes," said Mrs. Potter. She began to strap her shoes back on. "They've discussed you several times."

"Well now I'm interested," said Lily with a smirk. "What do they say?"

"Well, as a human being, it's my duty not to gossip," said James's mother with a smile. "But as a mother, it's my duty to humiliate my son in any way possible. Am I right?"

"Most definitely. And if you care to mention any stuffed animals he sleeps with while you're at it, I'd be sure never to tell James it was you who spilled."

Mrs. Potter laughed. "No, I can't think of any stuffed animals... but he and Remus have had lengthy conversations about you... Remus Lupin, you know."

"Let me guess... James attacks, and Remus defends."

"Usually. But sometimes James just rants."

"You must have gotten a very interesting idea of what kind of girl I am," said Lily, smiling. "Bossy, hypocritical, interfering... am I right?"

"More or less, but don't take any of that rot to heart, Dear. James is an adolescent boy, and when an adolescent boy mentions you at all, he may _say_ 'bossy, hypocritical, and interfering' but he means 'beautiful, charming, and unattainable.'"

Lily raised her half-drunk butterbeer bottle. "I'll drink to 'unattainable.'"

Mrs. Potter laughed as she finished strapping up her shoes. She looked up at Lily, smiling. "Don't let James get to you, Dear. He can be a right prat sometimes, but don't let him get to you. By the way... who is that blonde girl he's been dancing with for the past hour?" Mrs. Potter looked directly at where James and Redival were dancing to the newest song. "His latest girlfriend?"

"I guess so. Her name's Redival Shelley."

"Shelley... hmmm... I think I used to work with a Shelley... Carina Shelley, maybe..." Lily shrugged, looking intently at the older woman's hazel eyes. Exactly like James's. Mrs. Potter was very sweet. Why couldn't James be more like her in other aspects? "Well," continued Mrs. Potter thoughtfully; "If you ask me, and I know you didn't, but if you had, I would say that she shouldn't wear pink. It doesn't do anything for her, and it takes a particular sort of blonde who can get away with it without looking like a flake."

Lily's opinion of James's mother was growing with every passing moment. "I couldn't agree more," she stated firmly. Mrs. Potter smiled at the redhead, but before she could reply, the two women were joined by a wizard. He was handsome and probably in his late forties to early fifties. His hair was jet black and neat, flecked with grey only along the sides. His face was distinguished and thin, but there was no doubt in Lily's mind as to who he was. James's father.

"Clara, we have to go," he said, only supporting Lily's suspicion. His voice was like James's as well.

Mrs. Potter stood gracefully. "Why? It's early yet..."

"I've just gotten an owl." His expression and tone were serious and urgent. His wife looked at him curiously, but he shook his head as if to say, "I'll explain later."

"Alright dear, if it's important... I'll go thank Horace; you can start on the way to the village, and I'll catch up in a minute."

"No, I'll wait," said Mr. Potter firmly.

"Darling, what's...?"

"I'll explain on the way." He already had her coat, and helped her into the elegant furs with a certain gruff gentility. As he hastily slipped into his own cloak, Mrs. Potter turned to the Head Girl, with a bemused smile.

"It was nice to meet you, Lily," she said, offering a hand, which Lily accepted graciously.

"Nice too meet you too. Don't worry about your son: I'm sure McGonagall and Dumbledore can keep him in check."

"Well they're two of the best wizards in the country: if they can't, who can?"

And with that final thought, Mrs. Potter turned to give hasty last regards to Slughorn. Mr. Potter seemed to move impatiently, and his gait was another thing he shared with his son. When the Potters had disappeared, Lily returned her gaze to the ever-diminishing couples on the dance floor. As the minutes slipped by, the guests slipped out.

It may have been hours, or merely minutes that passed as Lily sat in her spot on the bench along the wall. She didn't know why, but something felt... right. Yes, right. Not wrong. Wasn't she supposed to feel terrible right now? Wasn't she supposed to be heartbroken that Elijah- her damned _boyfriend_- had just left the party without so much as a goodbye? Wasn't she at least supposed to care? So why did she feel- dare it be said- _relieved?_

"Lily!"

It was Slughorn again.

"Hello, Professor."

Slughorn sighed and dabbed his forehead with a fancy handkerchief. "It really is quite exasperating," he stated presently; "Dominic Gillygold owled me not a week ago assuring me he'd be here, and I _did_ rather want you two to meet... He's in the Department of International Cooperation, you know..."

"Yes, you told me. Maybe something came up."

Slughorn scoffed at the idea that anything could be more important than his Christmas Eve party. "Oh, I forgot," he continued after a moment; "It has been December Twenty-Fifth for almost two hours... Merry Christmas, Lily."

"Merry Christmas, Professor. And thanks for... everything. Elijah, the Band..."

Even as she spoke, the lead singer- the heartbreaking Alex Pendragon- finished his last song and set down his guitar. The others in the band followed the suit and with a final bow, and a huge cheer from almost everyone remaining in the room, the group departed backstage. Slughorn smirked proudly.

"I really ought to go and thank them," he said dutifully. "Merry Christmas, if you go back to your dormitory before I see you again, and I'm _sincerely sorry_ that you didn't get the opportunity to meet Mr. Gillygold."

"It's alright... see you later."

"Yes, be seeing you..."

Slughorn was gone to converse with his celebrity friends a moment later, and Lily went over to the drink table for one last butterbeer before she retired to the dormitory. She surveyed the room from there. Eden and Rian were standing in a corner, laughing at something or another. Sirius and Rachel were on the edge of what had been the dance floor, smiling at each other and looking as if they would jump on each other and start snogging at any moment.

Alice had already left, but Lexi was still there, conversing non-chalantly with Remus, Remus's date, Dora, and Paul Montreal. Lily noticed Leander Vireo- Alice's "boyfriend"- trying to chat up an uninterested brunette near the stage. About thirty adults remained in the Hall, all of them socializing and drinking either spirits or- in the case of the more sensible- coffee.

James and Redival were no where to be seen.

"Red?"

Lily jumped. She looked around and saw James standing just next to her, a butterbeer bottle in hand. "Oh... Potter... hi. Where's Redival?"

"Bathroom," replied James dispassionately. "Um... sorry about being sort of... y'know... rude to Trent back there."

Whatever Lily had been expecting him to say, it as certainly _not_ that. "Oh. Well... oh. Okay. Er... it's fine. Really, I mean- I'd practically already forgotten." The sad thing was, that was true. They looked awkwardly at everything but each other for a moment, then James decided to make a quick exit.

"So er... see you around, I guess. Bye, Red..."

"Bye, Potter..."

James turned to leave, but something didn't feel right about it. "Potter!" Lily said after him, and he turned expectantly to her. She hesitated, then raised her butterbeer bottle to him. "Merry Christmas."

The Head Boy raised his own butterbeer. "Merry Christmas, Red."

And as he left to find Redival, and Lily sipped her butterbeer, she felt like she had on the dance floor: relaxed. "Must be the butterbeer," she whispered to herself.

However, the peace or tranquility that may have settled in the room- or at least in Lily- in the last moment was suddenly disturbed, as the sound of a woman shrieking filled the air. A minute later, everyone was gasping or inquiring. Lily looked around to see the other guests huddling around the exit of the office. She tried to get a look of what the spectacular sight was, but before she could, Slughorn reappeared.

"Excuse me; excuse me," he muttered distractedly, trying to get through the crowd of stragglers as well. For the most part, the group parted to let him through, and Lily was able to see what the cause of the commotion was.

It was a wizard. He was dressed in black Ministry robes, and bore a badge on his chest that confirmed his position. He was gasping, and his face was clammy and frantic, falsely suggesting insanity. "Oh Merlin! M-M-Merlin! We're all d-d-d-doomed! It's happened! It's h-h-happened!"

The man's rasping ravings sounded even more lunatic.

"What's happened?" several people asked at once. "What's going on?"

"S-S-Something to d-d-d-drink!" wheezed the man.

"Dominic!" Slughorn gasped, helping the wizard to his feet. "You've never touched a drink in your life!"

The realization that this man must be Dominic Gillygold- the wizard Slughorn had wanted her to meet- hit Lily rather potently. He might've had a good excuse for not coming after all.

"W-w-w-we're _all_ g-going to n-n-need one s-s-soon..." Mr. Gillygold continued in a stutter. Slughorn led him forward to a chair near the center of the room, and conjured him a glass of amber liquid that looked like brandy. Gillygold drank the whole thing as if it were water, then began to massage his forehead.

"What's happened?" someone from the curious and anxious crowd enquired loudly.

Gillygold paused, breathing in and out very deeply. Finally, he managed to stammer, his voice still panic-stricken: "He's dead! _The Minister of Magic has been murdered_!"

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

**A/N:** there you go! Your freakin chapter is here! Complete with psuedo-fluff and a pseudo-cliffhanger. The next chapter is also halfway written, but there's still a lot of work to be done on it, so I don't know how long I'll be. Probably not _too_ long, but reviews will definitely encourage me- hint, hint. Have I mentioned I'm a total review-slut? Yeah, uh-huh.

And special thanks to the anonymous reviewers of Ch. 13: **tasz** (thanks a million, zillion times! Yes, I just said a 'million zillion.' LoL. Hope Chapter 14 lives up to expectations! Lyl, and help yourself to virtual cookies!), and **Karen**/**a** (lol- imaginative naming there... thanks SO much for coming back and reviewing! _I'm_ indebted to _you_! I'm really glad you like the story; it means a lot :-P). The loggers-in should already have their responses... Love you all lots!

Chapter 15: "The Last Suspicions of James Potter"  
(subject to change at my whim, of course...)

Cheers,  
_Jewels_


	15. The Last Suspicions of James Potter

_NftC: _I'm evil and stupid, I know. There's no excuse for how long it took me to update. I mean, I was busy, but part of the time I just did _not_ feel like writing. Anyway, I LOVE YOU REVIEWERS... you guys were awesome last chapter. Love to future reviewers as well :-P

_History_: Harry Potter stuff is not mine, but I do have the day off today.

_Recap:_ Well, way back in chapter 6 (7?) Lily and James speculate on the simultaneous attack on Hogsmeade and death threats to the Minister of Magic. Praedam and Silth (respective teachers of DADA and Ancient Runes) are suspected by the Head students to be spies, but one prank and two illicit searches of offices later (Ch. 11) Praedam is out of the question, and Silth is innocent until proven guilty. (Ch. 14) Slughorn throws a Christmas party, ending with a shocking bit of news: The Minister of Magic has been murdered.

And special thanks to Karen, for keeping me on my toes :-P  
**HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!  
**Wear green or die.

**Chapter 15- "The Last Suspicions of James Potter"  
**_"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."_ –Martin Luther King Jr.

­

James had never known a silence like the one that followed Mr. Gillygold's words; it was cold and reverberating- shocked and frightened. And then, the meaning of the words seemed to _really _sink in and register in the brains of the collective. Panic dominated now, as people gasped and interrogated, several of the guests actually shrieking.

Slughorn's voice, panicked as well, could be heard above the rest. "Quiet! Quiet! Dominic- how... how did it happen? Was it _Him_?"

Trembling, Gillygold tapped the empty glass with the ring on his left hand, and the Potions Master refilled the cup at wand point. After gulping through the alcohol, then coughing a bit, Mr. Gillygold breathed deeply. "It was... was just tonight... in London. H-he- the Minister- was on his way, with his f-f-family... they were going t-t-t-to a Christmas... a Christmas p-p-party. There... there was the M-M-Minister's Guard w-w-with them... three w-w-w-wizards... they... they go everywhere w-w-w-with him these d-d-days-" Gillygold paused to collect himself, then continued: "They... they were out in the street... j-j-just outside the h-h-house... then six or seven of them- of _his_... they app... apparated... t-t-t-took out the three... the three w-w-w-wizards in the g-g-guard first... then the M-M-Minister's wife... then the boys... the s-s-s-sons... then... then him... the Minister..."

Several people gasped, and Gillygold seemed to give out. He rested his face in his hands, clearly wanting nothing more than to be left alone. The crowd, however, would not consent.

"How did you find this out?" shouted one witch above the rest.

"W-w-witnesses... two muggles... the M-M-Ministry arrived a few m-m-minutes later w-w-when they f-f-found out... b-b-before muggles s-s-s-started s-s-s-swarming. And-and they were there... seven b-b-bodies... l-l-lying out there... and the sign! _His_ sign! Up in the sky- green and giant... They're saying... they're saying that _he_... _you_ know who I mean... they s-s-say _he_ was th-there him-himself..."

Gillygold's voice became even more uneven and he broke off. Slughorn raised his voice to calm the alarmed guests. "QUIET! PLEASE!" he shouted over the din; it was mostly successful. "Don't interrogate the man! Can't you see he's hysterical! Please! If you'll just wait...!"

James could say nothing. His throat was not working properly. He stared blankly ahead at him, not seeing anything- not moving. However, while his body was inanimate, his mind was not. On the contrary, it was quite busy at the moment.

This Minister of Magic was dead. Murdered. By Lord Voldemort.

But it didn't make sense- it couldn't be! The death threats... the attack on Hogsmeade... the meeting with Dumbledore...

It didn't add up. Why would Voldemort _warn_ them that he was going to kill the Minister of Magic and then actually do it? Why lose the element of surprise when it could be so vital?

"Jay! James!"

Sometime in the last moment, Redival had come to his side and was pulling on his arm. Her large blue eyes were resting fixedly on James, as if waiting for direction. "It's not true," continued Redival, panicky. "It just can't be true! The Minister... The Minister of Magic! Oh, James!" She buried her face in James's shoulder, and he could hear her sniff numerous times. Yet, he did not fully grasp any of it. He had hardly heard her words at all; actually, he had barely recognized her presence next to him at all.

Reacting more than acting, James pulled his arm away and headed for the door. He did not turn around, so he could not see the crowd beginning to press on Gillygold again. Nor could he see Redival's face- somewhere between sorrowful, confused, and annoyed. If he had, it is possible that he would have stopped. As it was, he did not.

He headed for the unattended exit; his pace was quick and his movements deliberate. He left the office and moved even more quickly down the corridor. It was cold and quiet outside the Party Room, and the only light provided was by the torches that lit as James hurried past them. At some point, he had begun to sprint.

When the corridor was silent around him (the noises of the party having evaporated), his feet slowed under him- almost against his will- and James halted. He was at the end of the hall, where it dipped into a narrow staircase that led to the dark, damp, and mostly unused dungeons.

James stood there for a moment, listening to his own breathing and half expecting another sound to disturb the quiet around him. But none came. Slowly and tiredly, he walked to the wall and leaned his back against it. He let his feet slide out from under him, until he was sitting, still leaning, with his elbows propped on his knees and his hands outstretched before him.

He ruffled his hair in a distracted manner, with one long thin hand, and loosened his black tie with the other. It was still quiet, except for James's breathing.

And then it wasn't.

Footsteps tapping on the stone floor echoed around the corridor, and James looked about quickly. Much to his surprise, however, the footsteps were not coming from his right- the direction from which he'd been running... the direction of the party- but from the left: from the dungeons.

Perhaps it was the events for the night that made him jumpy, or perhaps it was simply how he was, but James did not resist the impulse to draw his wand from the pocket of his dress robes. A torch lit itself, casting a shadow of the approaching figure on the wall, and any minute the person in question would be visible. James unconsciously held his breath, as if he was under the impression that this dungeon-visitor would be dangerous.

The shadow on the wall disappeared, and the newcomer himself appeared around the corner of the curving stairwell. He was thin, dark haired, and exceptionally pale.

Snape.

"Snape?" asked James uncertainly, getting to his feet, and gripping his wand tightly at his side.

The black eyes of Severus Snape met the hazel ones of James Potter for a moment, but while James's betrayed only confusion, the Slytherin's looked angry.

"What are you doing here, Potter?"

"I could ask the same of you."

"You could."

"I will. What are you doing here?"

"Leaving."

Snape began to do so, stepping hastily, his hair glinting in the dim torchlight. Then he stopped, a few paces away from James, and turned. "Why aren't you at Slughorn's little party, Potter?" he sneered. "You're such a favorite, after all."

"Jealousy doesn't become you, _Snivellus_. Nothing does, though, so I guess I shouldn't have very high expectations."

"Jealous? Jealous of _you_?"

"It's not really that hard to believe. The way you live, I expect you'd be jealous of a niffler's life...".

"Your life and a niffler's life... quite similar, I'm sure."

"...Even people in _your_ house hate you..."

"Shut your mouth, Potter, or I'll shut it for you!"

And suddenly, both seventh years had raised their respective wands and were pointing them at each other. They were at a standstill, but not for long. For a reason that James could not determine himself, he was- for easily the first time in his life- hesitant about hexing Snape first.

_'You're being an idiot, Potter...'_ James thought to himself. _'Just hex the bastard... He deserves it!'_

But before he could refuse or affirm this decision, someone else did.

"Snape? Potter?" came a voice through the dark of the corridor.

The heads of the two students snapped around at the same time to see Lily Evans standing about two yards away, a slightly surprised expression gracing her dimly lit features. As the boys lowered their wands ever so slightly, Lily's expression changed to one of exasperation.

"You two are pathetic," she snapped. "_Dueling_ at a time like this!"

"_A time like this_?" mimicked Snape coolly. "What's the time that I can't curse a coward like Potter?"

James started again, but Lily interrupted. "Perhaps you should ask Slughorn," she suggested, more business-like than James ever remembered hearing her.

"Assuming you don't already know, of course," added the Head Boy; "It wouldn't surprise me if you already know from... _other_ sources..."

"_Potter_," warned Lily.

"Yes, Red?" He didn't take his eyes off Snape.

The Slytherin, meanwhile, was glancing from Lily to James. His eyes finally rested on the former, and flashed darkly as only Snape's could. "I see I was right about you," he muttered coldly; "Another of Potter's..." he broke off, and made a strange noise that might have been a scoff... "Another of Potter's fans... _Red_..."

He walked quickly down the corridor again, and it was not until his footsteps had completely vanished that Lily stopped glaring over her shoulder at him, and returned her focus to the Head Boy. James, meanwhile, had replaced his wand in his pocket, leaned against the wall again, and slid down, so that he was once more sitting. He did not meet her stare.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Lily asked presently; "or did you sneak off just to find Snape to curse?"

"Yeah, because I've got nothing better to think about."

"I never know with you. What were you fighting about, anyway?"

James sighed. "What are _you_ doing here, Red? Or did you sneak off just to find me to prosecute?"

"And I suppose _I've_ got nothing better to do than that?"

"It's a definite possibility."

"I followed you, and if you've got half a brain, you know why."

"Do I?"

"Have half a brain?"

"Know why you're here."

"I don't know. Do you?"

"No."

Lily sighed now. "The Minister, James. You've heard of _him_, haven't you? The bloke who sort of- y'know- _runs everything_!"

"Yeah what about him?" snapped James, knowing perfectly well.

"He went on holiday to Bermuda," replied Lily sarcastically. "C'mon, James. Work with me. What do you think happened?"

"Want to hear my theory?" asked James, very seriously.

"Er... yes?"

James gestured for Lily to lean close, and she did. He gestured for her to lean closer, and she did. "My theory," he whispered into her ear, "is that Voldemort did it!"

Lily straitened and rolled her eyes; her leg twitched as if she was resisting the urge to kick him. "Are you going to be annoying about this?"

"I don't know. Am I being annoying now?"

"Yes."

"Well there's your answer."

Lily rolled her eyes again, and leaned against the wall, sliding down like James had. "No need to be so sarcastic, Potter. I'm not Snape. Not even close... see, I _wash_ my hair." James fought a smirk. It was, after all, a serious situation. "What do you think happened? Why do you think they killed him?" Lily continued.

James hesitated. Honestly, he didn't know. It didn't make sense. Of course, he couldn't _say_ that... "He's the Minister of bloody Magic, Evans. Why wouldn't they? He's just another obstacle to be gotten rid of to Voldemort, no doubt."

Lily nodded. "They'll choose another one, though, and you know as well as I do that the only way that makes sense is if the attacks on Hogsmeade and the death threats happened at the same time without any reason or specific... _design_."

The Head Boy made no response, so she continued. "Because if the death threat letters were a distraction to draw Dumbledore away from Hogwarts, then why actually kill the Minister? And if the attack at Hogsmeade was a distraction for the death threats... well, that just doesn't make sense. You don't send _warnings_ and then try to make people forget about them, do you?"

James looked over at the redhead and observed that she was staring strait ahead, as if she was more thinking aloud than actually speaking to him. Her face was very solemn and thoughtful, and the dim torchlight made it glow and orange-ish color. Evans was very good-looking...

'_So was Bellatrix Black_,' James reflected forcefully.

"Well what _do_ you think of it then?" he asked finally.

"I don't know," was the simple reply.

James looked forward again as well, and the two just sat there for a moment, trying to figure things out silently.

The information that had cluttered the last four months washed over James as he tried to work out segments of it at a time. The attack at Hogsmeade... how did it relate to the Minister's assassination threats? Why did they coincide? Why didn't they try and capture Hogwarts?

It was becoming repetitive.

"We were wrong," sighed Lily resignedly at length.

Her sudden vocalism caught James by surprise, and he looked up at her. "Come again?"

"We were wrong," she repeated. "They couldn't have intentionally coincided- the attack at Hogsmeade and the death threats to the Minister. It doesn't make sense; they _killed _him. Would they do that if the whole thing was just a diversion?"

"How should I know?" snapped James. "Do I look like one of Voldemort's stooges to you?"

Lily raised her eyebrows at James's sudden outburst. "Maybe," she murmured coolly, causing James to glare. Evidently ignoring him (which was _extremely _aggravating), she continued to voice everything she'd been thinking in the last few minutes, which, by no great coincidence, had been more or less everything James had been thinking in the last few minutes as well. "The only option left is that your... my... whatever... the idea was completely off. Something else is happening here... or else Voldemort has lost himself to mad incoherence."

James shrugged. "Maybe Voldemort _is_ mad."

"Undoubtedly," agreed Lily. "But not stupid."

Another pregnant silence filled the corridor, at least with James and Lily. The pair could hear the distant rumble of former partygoers exiting Slughorn's office in great haste and great panic. But no one bothered the Head Boy and Girl, for the panicked guests were leaving the castle, not visiting the dungeons.

"Well what if..." began James, then he broke off and paused before resuming: "I mean, it doesn't really follow that the threats arrived to the Minister and the Hogsmeade Express was ambushed at the same time just because of... scheduling difficulties..." James momentarily held a funny picture in his head of Voldemort trying to schedule attacks in a date book.

"Agreed," said Lily, "but do you have any better ideas?"

"What if... what if Voldemort planned to execute both of the... attacks, or whatever... on the same day. What if he _did _actually want for the threats to the Minister to draw Dumbledore away from the school, like we said before?"

"Then he... er... succeeded? I don't know! What are you on about, Potter?"

"Well then there's the... sort of double distraction, right? I mean, Hogwarts and the Ministry are both vulnerable and if you've got Aurors worrying about the Minister and the Ministry, _and_ Aurors worrying about Hogwarts, we're stretched thin..."

"Right, but so are the death eaters... and chances are, there are more of us than there are of them."

"We don't know that."

"It's likely."

"Is it?"

"Yes. The Ministry of Magic has been like it is now for a century. Voldemort's been around for six years."

"That doesn't mean anything," said James, waving his hand dismissively. He barely registered her words, as his mind began to work more quickly. "The aurors trained a century ago aren't still working, you know." Lily rolled her eyes.

"_James_..."

But James didn't hear her. "Oh _shit_," he whispered, standing suddenly.

"What? What's the matter?" asked Lily, worried, for his face had suddenly gone pale, and his hazel eyes had grown wide.

"Hogwarts is next!"

"What?"

"Hogwarts is next!" James repeated. "They're going to attack Hogwarts!"

"What are you...?"

"Do you remember what they said in the forest?" asked James, very quickly to keep up with his racing brain.

"Er..."

"They said that they weren't going to take Hogwarts just then, but later, right?"

"Well, they said..."

"I know, I know. But they took out one of their targets..."

"The Minister?"

"Yeah, and the next one his Hogwarts."

Lily exhaled while obviously trying to absorb everything the now pacing James had spat out at her. "Well, okay," she said slowly, getting to her feet as well. "Supposing... supposing this is true... why send warnings that they were going to kill the Minister? They're pretty pointless if you intend to carry them out..."

James shrugged. "Pride, I guess. Y'know... 'We told you what was coming and we still hit you...'"

They paused to think again, before James spoke. "I should've known before..." he said. "I should have seen it coming... 'should've guessed..."

"Oh, don't," Lily cut him off, sighing. "There's no way you could've known or guessed or anything. Well, maybe guessed, but there's no way you could've known for sure that any of that was true... even still you don't _know_..."

"But I do, don't you see? It's the only thing that makes sense!"

"But it _doesn't..._"

"Sure it..."

"No, James. It doesn't. What has Voldemort actually _done _to Hogwarts, short of shaking everyone up? He didn't kill anyone, he didn't take over, and apparently, he didn't even leave a spy..."

"What if he did?"

"Oh, hell. Déjà vu all over again..."

"No I'm serious... What if he did? What if it _is_ Silth...?"

"I've thought about that, Potter," said Lily, resuming some coldness, which only served to further irritate the Head Boy. "Silth- well, there's no proof he _is _a spy- but if he were, then there's still no reason to attack Hogsmeade... Silth would have come even if they _hadn't _attacked."

"I told you already," said James irately. "He attacked Hogsmeade to stretch our defenses..."

"Then what about everything the death eaters said in the forest?" cut in Lily. "What about the... _implications..._ that they were going to take over Hogwarts... eventually?"

James rolled his eyes. "You're just being contrary."

"If by 'contrary' you mean 'logical,' than yes! James, you've got about ten theories for each little development, and they're all great and dandy, except none of them fit together!"

He cast the Head Girl a withering look, irritation at Lily's lack of cooperation mounting with every passing word.

"Oh, don't," snapped Lily again. "Heaven forbid anything _I_ say be right. I'm just a girl after all."

"Oh shut up. It has nothing to do that. You're just..."

"A girl!"

"I was going to say 'wrong' actually. And when did you become a feminist?"

"Shut it!"

"No."

"_Yes_."

"No!" and as an afterthought: "_Red..."_

Lily looked superciliously over at him. "You're pathetic, you know," she said coolly. "All you can think about when the _Minister of Magic_ has been murdered- _assassinated-_ is insulting me and dueling Snape?"

"Oh, and the last ten minutes has been all about insulting you and getting back at Snape?" retorted James sarcastically. "It's not _all_ about you, you know, Red."

"Look who's talking."

"_I_ am."

"As usual."

"Shut it."

"You're the one who's monologue-ing."

"Am not."

"You _were_."

"I was thinking out loud..."

"That's what monologue-ing _is_, Potter..."

"Shut it."

"Great comeback."

"_Why_ are you always arguing with me? More pressing issues are _obviously _at hand!"

"_You're_ arguing with _me._"

"Am not! You're the one who refuses to believe anything I say can have any relation to the truth."

"That's because it doesn't. You're just guessing, and then you want to jump off and tell Dumbledore about it."

"I didn't say that."

"But you intended to."

"Maybe, but I didn't say it."

"Which makes _such_ a difference..." Lily rolled her eyes once more.

"It does."

"Lovely."

"Shut it."

"Again with the come-backs..."

James had to force himself not to reach out and strangle the defiant redhead before him. His arms actually twitched while he forced disjointed thoughts of '_Eden would kill me'_ and '_murder is wrong'_ through his head.

"Damn it, Evans, you have _no_ idea how much I'd like to kill you at the moment."

The ends of Lily's mouth twitched, clearly trying not to smirk, which hardly helped James's conscience's efforts at restraining the Head Boy. "Calm down, Potter," she said, making it sound easy.

James exhaled heavily in a further attempt not to kill Lily. "I'm going to find out about Silth," he said finally, his tone defiant and firm.

"_What?_" This statement threw her off.

"I'm going to find out about Silth," James repeated, beginning to walk back down the corridor (in the direction of Slughorn's offices, and after that the stairway upward). "Find out if he's a spy for _Him_ or not..."

"_Potter!_"

James ignored her, and continued to stalk down the corridor. Lily paused for a moment, then hurried to catch up.

"You're being irrational."

"Oh, and _you're_ never irrational!"

"I never said that- but it doesn't make it right!" She was jogging to keep up, for though Lily was relatively long-legged, his strides were still longer.

"Maybe not, but I'm doing it."

"What are you going to do?"

The corridor was deserted; people had gotten out of there fast. They made it to the stair, and James continued upward.

"Tonight? Go to sleep. Tomorrow... who knows?" He smirked as he said it, mainly because he could hear Lily's groan of exasperation.

"Potter! C'mon! Don't be ridiculous! You're a seventeen-year-old boy... what could _you_ do?"

"You didn't sound so under-confident when you asked me to pull a prank for you!"

"And you didn't sound so unfoundedly suspicious!"

"Save your big words for class, Love. I don't want to hear it."

Lily skipped three steps so that she was just behind him. "You're _always_ like this, aren't you?" she said, speaking venomously and rapidly: "'I don't want to hear it 'cos it doesn't make me feel good about myself!' Well hear it! You're being stupid about this whole thing! Someone has _died_, James... and you want to do something about it? Fine. But you think you have to do whatever it takes, don't you? And if it requires going back into the forest or leaving the school or being insanely stupid in some other way, you would do it. And if your irrationality puts someone else in danger, so be it... right? You'll do it; I know you, Potter..."

These words struck him oddly. James turned around and leaned over her, so that his hazel eyes were inches away from her jade ones. "You don't know what you're talking about, Lily."

He turned and continued, faster now, up the stairwell. Lily staid put, but as he came to the landing of the seventh floor and was about to enter the hallway, he heard her call after him: "You don't have to solve everything. You can't always be right!"

He pretended he hadn't heard her and hurried down the corridor.

"Christmas Cheer," said James glumly to the Fat Lady. The picture looked anxiously down at him, ignoring that he'd given her the password to the Common Room behind her.

"Is it true what they're saying?" she asked frantically. "They're saying that someone's been assassinated... that..."

"_Christmas Cheer_," James repeated firmly, not really in the mood to talk with the Fat Lady at the moment. Irritable as she was, she swung forward, and James stepped into the Common Room.

There was about ten Gryffindors up- all of them huddled around the fireplace, whispering quietly- and new students were arriving constantly- yawning on the steps from the dorms. But as James entered, and they perceived him, they quieted instantaneously. Everyone seemed to hold his or her breadth. It was almost as if they were expecting that he- James Potter, Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, and Generally Most Popular Bloke- would know something that the rest of them did not.

James looked about at them all and saw Redival standing and crossing the room to see him. She linked arms with him and looked sadly into his face. "I'm afraid," she confessed in a whisper.

"Good," was all James could reply. He steered her over to the fireplace with the others, who were still silent.

"Is it true?" asked a second year boy, whose name James could not quite recollect. "The others are saying that a man came to Slughorn's party and said that the Minister of Magic... that he's been killed!" He looked up at James, and James wondered why the kid put so much faith in what _he_ of all people had to say. He was _only_ James, after all.

And yet, what if the kid hadn't wondered. In all honesty, a slight lapse of thoughtfulness had put James under the impression that no one would be up in the Common Room. Being there now, he realized that partygoers would have returned to their dormitories and awakened their friends to spread the news. But if James _had_ suspected that his fellow Gryffindors would be sitting up by the fire earlier, he would have subconsciously assumed that they would be waiting for his input- his information. He _was_ James, after all.

As James's mind wandered into a philosophical tangent of its own, Redival was navigating him into a seat. She herself sat on the arm of the chair he'd been placed in. "Did you talk to anyone? You... you disappeared. Do you know anything else? That Gilly-whatever-chap didn't tell us anything else... is there a new Minister?"

"Yeah, it's true," James said suddenly. He was replying to the second year, not his girlfriend. "I hear he's been assassinated by Voldemort. That's all I know." He added this last part with a glance at Redival. Then he stood. "I'm going to bed," he stated. "Good night."

The hum of speculation and frightened interjections began once more, and James climbed the stair to his dormitory. Sirius, Remus, and Peter, he had observed, were conspicuously absent from the crowd by the fire, but both Paul Montreal and Frank Longbottom were there, which meant that the Marauders might have the dormitory to themselves.

He opened the door and entered. It was quiet, and at first glance, empty.

Then, he noticed Sirius. He was lying on his bed, his hands behind his head while his grey blue eyes stared up at the four-poster's canopy above him. The only light was provided by the moonlight through the window, which cast a blue light on half the room and left the rest in shadow. From what James could see of Sirius's dimly lit face, it was expressionless.

The Head Boy crossed the room and sat on his own bed, which happened to be right next to Sirius's.

"Strange, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

Sirius did not look at James. "What is?" he deadpanned.

James swung his legs onto the bed and imitated his friend's position. "Turnus is the first Minister of Magic I remember coming into office. Before him was Dresback, but I was only five when he first became Minister. Turnus is dead, and I can't think of anyone else as Minister of Magic."

Sirius said nothing, so James continued.

"My parents weren't too fond of Turnus... I mean, they didn't _hate_ him, and they knew he was much better than some of the other candidates... but they were sort of hoping Charlus Burke would get the job when Dresback resigned... But when Turnus got it, they weren't too disappointed. Later on- when Voldemort started getting support- they thought he could've done better... but Dad always publicly supported him... he came to one of Mum's Summer Parties once when I was like nine, Turnus did; I don't remember him, except he had a wonky looking beard at the time." James paused, then pressed on more quietly. "He's dead. The country is going to explode, Padfoot."

James glanced over at Sirius once more, and saw that he had a twisted, mirthless smile on his face, that was so characteristic of Padfoot, that James felt he ought to have understood it better by now. And yet he didn't.

"What?"

Sirius exhaled, his expression unchanging. "_My_ family," he murmured, just above a whisper, "hated Turnus. 'Said he was an incompetent bastard... said he didn't see the shape of things to come... said he was blind... visionless... That's how my family is, y'know, Prongs... I bet they'll crack out the champagne out when they find out... if they don't already know; I bet half of my cousins are death eaters... they probably already know all about it... they probably know more details than the Ministry does... know _exactly_ how much pain the Minister went through... how the four year old kid screamed before his breathing stopped... how easy it was... how much panic it'll cause... Fear..."

James looked over at Sirius, and could now make out a distinct anguish in the grey blue eyes, visible only in the shining of the moonlight.

"Don't hate yourself for it, Padfoot... there's no way you could've known... just because you're related to some of them, doesn't mean you're in any way responsible... or connected."

"I'm one of them, James," Sirius muttered, his tone ethereal. "I'm a Black... I'm always connected to them... to the people who do this and support this..."

"Well then so am I!" insisted the other Marauder sternly. "Y'know more or less every pureblood wizard or witch is related... we're something like tenth cousins. If you're connected, I am!"

Sirius shook his head, making a sound somewhere between a scoff and a smirk. "But you're not one of them, Prongs. It's not just a name, for me. It's a state of being; you wouldn't do the things I've done."

"You're not born anything, Padfoot... you choose it."

And finally, Sirius looked over at his friend's face, which was etched with both worry and sternness. "I'm one of them, Prongs- the people who do those things. Someone else chose for me..."

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

Breakfast was quiet.

Quieter than quiet.

Silent and still.

James wasn't sure how so many adolescents and a staff of about a dozen (Dumbledore was absent) managed to eat so quietly with so little movement, but they did. Everyone seemed to be caught in the fog that clouded the bewitched ceiling overhead, and no one could do anything but think.

The vast majority of the school had found out the news the night before, but the rest discovered in the morning, when they read either the newspaper, frantic letters from their parents, or else were informed by fellow students. Black cloth was draped across the tables, in place of the usual décor, and long banners of plain black material hung from the ceiling, where the colors of the House Cup winners would usually hang at the end of the year.

James drank from his goblet of Pumpkin Juice without knowing it, and his head registered only one lonely, disjointed thought.

It was Christmas.

Christmas Day.

It shouldn't have been like this... they should all have been celebrating... feasting cheerfully... opening presents... laughing and joking and looking forward to the feast that night... this was wrong. It wasn't fair.

Remus slid into the seat next to him. They exchanged looks that said their hellos for them, because it seemed improper to exchange _words_ when everyone else was so quiet. Remus poured himself some pumpkin juice, and James looked up and down the Gryffindor table listlessly.

Sirius and Peter hadn't come down yet. James had left Redival pulling on stockings in the Common room. Paul Montreal was sitting alone, for Frank Longbottom had gone up to the Owlry to send a letter to his parents. Apparently, his Father (an Auror) frequently took some of the shifts in the late Minister's personal guard, and it wasn't known yet whether he had had the shift on Christmas Eve.

Evans was already there; James felt a slight, angry pang in his stomach at the sight of her. She was very pale in contrast to her torch-lit glow of the night before; yet, she didn't look worried like the others. She just looked solemn; this was partially aided by the black blouse she'd donned with her jeans, and the messy bun of ginger hair on the back of her head. Remnants of last night's dark eyeliner lingered, but make-up wasn't responsible for every dark ring around the serious, almond-shaped eyes. Eden sat with her, flushed, and dressed in exercise clothes (shorts and a t-shirt), so James guessed she'd been running longer than usual that morning.

The whole situation was very familiar. It was like another breakfast, almost four months ago, when half the school had been missing and everyone present had been silent. And this occasion, like that one, ought to have been happy.

When breakfast was finished, the Marauders (Sirius and Peter having joined Remus and James some ten minutes into the meal) returned to their dormitory, with the vague design of opening their presents.

At the foot of each bed in the dormitory was a stack of parcels. James's was easily the highest, closely followed by Frank Longbottom's, though Frank was still absent. Sirius's was less than half the height of his best friend's, and James was pretty sure none of the parcels were from Sirius's parents.

About fifty percent of James's own packages, however, _were_ from his parents. The notes on every present were cheerful and filled with 'Merry Christmases,' leading James to assume that they were sent before last night. Everything seemed so insignificant in comparison to the threat of Voldemort, at the moment.

James barely noticed the t-shirt he got from his uncle Charlus, (bearing the scarlet and silver logo of the Wigtown Wanderers Quidditch Team- complete with the letters "PWW," two butchers knives, and the year 1422) or the book "1000 Quick Cheats for Transfiguration" from his cousin, Barry. Everything was very shortly discarded into a pile next to the dressing table, along with several of his dorm mates' presents.

The morning passed quietly. Remus and Sirius killed time by playing chess game after chess game, Peter by watching them- though he did stop to take a Kitchen Break around ten-thirty-, and James by sitting on window seat, watching the grey sky outside, and pretending to polish his broom. Paul Montreal joined them presently, with the dismal news that he couldn't find Frank anywhere and was "ready to hex the sodding git for disappearing."

Everyone's tempers were running high.

Unable to stand the nothingness of it all, James announced just before lunch that he was going for a walk. The others barely noticed his words, and certainly didn't notice that he grabbed his schoolbag and shoved something inside of it just before slipping out the door.

James wandered the corridors with no particular destination in mind for quite some time. He was left mostly alone with his thoughts, because the majority of the school was in their respective dormitories or Common Rooms, leaving the rest of the castle free. However, just as James was coming down to the first floor with the vague idea of getting to the Great Hall early for lunch, he heard voices in the Entrance Hall.

From his spot on the stairway, James instinctively stopped and listened.

One of the speakers was Silth, and the other was Professor Grossman.

"...wasn't aware of that..." Silth was saying in his typical slick, oily voice, though now his tone was mixed with a note of boredom. "But when," he continued: "do the markings date back to? If it's anything earlier than 400 BC, I simply wont believe it..."

In all honesty, James was a little disappointed. He had been expecting- possibly hoping- that the two professors who had both been objects of interests to Lily and himself (his insides gave a pang at the thought of the severely irritating Head Girl) would be discussing something suspicious. But they were discussing Ancient Runes, of all subjects... and on a day like this...

And then a thought occurred to James that could be considered typical for a Marauder. It was simply his thought pattern, and he should not be entirely blamed. But the thought struck him that Silth was here, and therefore _not_ in his office. The further notion came to James that it was almost lunchtime, and Silth would be kept from his office for an even longer period of time.

James's heart rate quickened, and he turned, hurrying as quietly as possible up the stairway again. The next five floors passed in what seemed to James to be only a second. He wasn't thinking anymore- just working on the adrenaline that pumped through him. But for a second, his head did generate the image of a certain redheaded girl, and for even shorter a time, he wondered if he should go and find her. But then he remembered how she'd been the night before, and he was sure he would rather make this expedition by himself.

In the Ancient Runes department, James slowed to a walk. When he came to the room that was Silth's office, he was faced with another problem, however. As he reached out to try the handle of the door, he found his hand could not come within an inch of it. The Impervius Charm had evidently been placed on it.

James drew his wand and thought hard. How could he get rid of the spell? He racked his brains in attempt to remember or think of something that would help him get to the door, but to no avail. Impervius Charms, though fairly simple to cast, were much more difficult to remove.

But James was a Marauder, as has been mentioned many times in the past, and a little thing like a spell wasn't going to keep him out of the office. He observed the door and the wall before him like a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be put together. Then, with a stroke of brilliance and a thrill running through his spine, James pointed his wand at the stone wall standing between him and the office, and said, very clearly: "Confrigete!"

Then he ducked behind his arm as the wall burst apart. A few pieces of the wall narrowly missed him, and when the dust had fallen, James straitened up and walked through the huge whole he had just made in the wall. On the other side, he turned slightly and, pointing his wand at the gap, said lazily: "Reparo."

The office was exactly as it had been when James was in there on Halloween: messy. This time, however, things were slightly different. Slightly. This time, James had a vague idea of what to look for: anything and everything concerning the late Minister of Magic.

The planner that James had found on the desk during his last "visit" to the office was still there, buried under an assortment of corrected papers and the like. On the day "December 25th" there were only the words: "Slughorn's Party" scrawled untidily. James continued to flip through papers looking for anything: a newspaper clipping, or a letter from someone perhaps. He found none.

However, when James went over to the bookshelf, something caught James's eye. It was a box- about three inches deep and eight inches long- made of brown leather. The Head Boy looked at it where it sat on the fourth shelf, trying to remember where he'd seen that box before. Then, an idea struck him. It was identical to the one that Lily had stolen from Praedam's office.

He took it from the shelf and fingered the outside of it. Then, he made an attempt to open it. James pulled at the lid, tapped it with his wand, threw it across the room, tossed ever curse he could think of at the thing, but it would not open. He shook it several times and felt something moving inside, though he could not begin to guess what it was.

James contemplated the box for a moment. How did it get here? Lily had taken it from Professor Praedam's office... had she mistakenly returned it here? No. James was willing to believe Lily was an irrational, thoughtless girl, but he was pretty sure she wasn't _that _stupid. Perhaps they both coincidentally had the _exact_ same box? Perhaps Praedam had given it to him? Or, perhaps...

The Head Boy's heart rate quickened at the very thought. Perhaps Silth had stolen it. But then there was always the question of... why? What was so important about this box? He had completely forgotten about his book bag and the Invisibility Cloak he'd put in there before he left the Common Room.

James breathed in and out several times, trying to work things out in his head. And then, he came to a decision, and slowly began to slip the box into his pocket.

"Hello there! What are you doing?"

James's heart stopped beating altogether. His stomach seemed to jump out of his throat, and he stood there for a moment, hardly daring to believe that a voice had really just spoken to him from behind. From the direction of the door. Slowly and reluctantly, however, James turned around to face his certain doom, his mind too busy to even begin to think up an explanation as to what he was doing in this particular room.

But when he turned, James saw that it was not Professor Silth standing next to the door with a confused expression on his face, but another man. It took all of three seconds for the Head Boy to register who exactly it was.

It was the wizard of the Ministry of Magic who had been sent at the beginning of the year to inspect the Hogwarts Express. He had been, James remembered, ordered by the Ministry, to stay at Hogwarts after the attack and observe the situation there. James racked his brains trying to remember the wizard's name.

It was Gabriel Something. Or was it Gavin? Garreth?

"What are you doing in here?" asked the wizard- whatever his name was- in that dignified, extraordinarily clear voice that James was now recalling from the briefing in the Head Compartment of the train.

"I was... I was..." James broke off, not entirely sure what he _was_ doing there. "I was... well, I was..."

Gilbert! That was it! _Gilbert_ was his name! Gilbert Korcesh... if James remembered correctly.

"Yes?" repeated Korcesh coolly. "You were what?"

James, completely unable to figure out _what_ he was doing, sighed and bowed his head shamefully, in a most un-James-like manner. "I was searching this office."

Korcesh did not say anything for a moment. "To what purpose?" he asked presently, and his voice surprised James. It was sharper than usual, but not in an angry way.

James was moments away from telling a lie about how Silth confiscated something of his in class, and he'd come to retrieve it, when a thought occurred to the Head Boy that was both encouraging and thrilling. Korcesh was from the Ministry of Magic... from the department of Magical Law Enforcement, and he was here in this office as well. What was _he_ doing in here? Did he suspect Silth too?

"I don't trust him... Silth, I mean," said James, barely breathing. It was a risk, and he'd be an idiot if he didn't know it.

Korcesh's eyes widened. "You... you do not trust him?" he repeated. "Why is that?"

"I... er... I don't know exactly. But... but there's something not right about him, right? You've noticed it too, haven't you? That's why you're here, isn't it?" James purposefully made it more of a statement then a question.

Korcesh hesitated momentarily, then said: "Yes."

James could hardly believe his luck.

"Yes, I admit... there is something off about Professor Silth. He... he seems to take a keen interest in myself, particularly," Korcesh continued.

James's heart did some sort of somersault. Silth was interested in Korcesh? "But... but you're from the Ministry, right? So, if he was doing something wrong, he _would _take a special interest in you poking about, wouldn't he?"

Korcesh considered James for a moment. "You... you're a smart boy. What year are you?"

"Seventh, sir." Politeness and flattery seemed like a good strategy at the moment. Korcesh nodded.

"I see. And you're name...?" James hesitated, and Korcesh continued quickly: "Do not worry... I do not intend to turn you in. You were not trying to break any rules, I can only assume. Just trying to do what was right, yes?"

The student nodded. "I'm James Potter."

"Gilbert Korcesh, though I'm sure you already knew..."

James nodded again.

"Well then," continued Silth presently; "as I said, I do not wish to report you. However, I ask that you do not spread any of this around yourself... if Silth were to discover that we _both _suspect him..."

"I understand, Sir." James could not believe his luck as Korcesh dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Out in the corridor, he turned and felt the door... the Impervius Charm was gone. Korcesh must _reall_y have wanted to get inside. That alone was pretty hard evidence against Silth. And the box...

James felt inside his pocket at the box, and was inspired. He broke into a sprint and did not stop until he came to the Great Hall.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

"That's not it."

James blinked. "What?" he asked.

Lily sighed. "That's not it," she repeated.

James took the box back from Lily's hands, and held it somewhat protectively in his own. "What do you mean? How do you know?"

"Because the box I stole from Praedam's office was _black_," Lily said coolly. Evidently, the girl was still annoyed about the conversation they'd had last night. James was pretty sure the thing that annoyed her most was the fact that he'd obviously disregarded her advice.

James exhaled irritably and looked down at the undeniably brown leather. "You're _sure_?" he asked.

"Yes. Now can I _please_ return to lunch? My soup is probably cold."

"You probably know a dozen spells that would reheat it," James said, grabbing Lily's arm gently, to detain her in the Entrance Hall. He'd managed to drag her away from lunch to speak to her about the box and what had happened in the office. His pride had been offended by her censures the night before, but not so offended that he didn't want to know about the box.

"What did you ever do with the box you stole from Praedam, anyway?" he asked sharply.

_"Not so loud, Potter!" _hissed the redhead through gritted teeth.

James rolled his eyes, then repeated in a lower voice: "What did you ever do with the...?"

"I heard you the first time!"

"Well then answer!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"_Red!_"

Lily looked defiant a moment longer, obviously just to annoy James further, then said: "I... well, I kept it for a little while longer, then I snuck into his office after Dark Arts class one day and returned it."

"Did you open it?" asked James naturally.

The Head Girl looked shocked, or at least pretended to. "Do you really think I would do that, Potter?"

"I don't know, but I think you didn't just answer the question."

Lily looked coolly at him. "No, Potter. I didn't _open _it. Merlin..." She muttered something else that James did not hear, but was not particularly interested in either.

"Alright, alright," he interrupted, exasperated. "Sorry for disturbing your lunch and all that..." He let go of his arm, but Lily staid put for a moment.

"You know, you're going to get yourself in trouble," she said.

James raised an eyebrow. "Worried about me?" he joked.

"Not particularly, but I felt it was my moral duty to warn..."

James shook his head. "Right. Of course."

He turned and began to walk up the staircase again, pocketing the box. He could feel Lily's eyes on the back of his head, but did not say anything else.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO 

Peter was the first to get the news, because James, Sirius, and Remus had decided to sleep in on Boxing Day. They'd all staid up late the night before, talking about nothing in particular and avoiding (in particular) anything relating to Voldemort, the Minister of Magic, or politics at all. So, the next morning, James, Sirius, and Remus had slept late, and Peter was the first one to breakfast, thus the first one to read the newspaper, thus the first of the seventh year Gryffindor males to get the news.

"There's a new Minister!"

That woke the other three up.

As a matter of fact, it woke the other the other four up, counting the non-Marauder in their year that was present.

"W-w-w-what?" stammered Sirius, stifling a yawn, as he climbed out of bed.

Peter waved the newspaper over his head while waiting for his friends to get themselves up. Remus was the first to reach him, and took the newspaper from Wormtail's hands to read the headline. Sirius and James scrambled up next to him a moment later, and read over his shoulder. The entire front page was covered with one headline:

**NEW MINISTER OF MAGIC.**

"Turn the bloody page!" commanded Sirius to Remus, trying to do so himself, so that they could read the rest of the story.

"I am, I am," grumbled Remus, turning the page a little slower than necessary, so as to annoy Sirius all the more.

James scanned page 2 for a name.

Remus spotted it first. "It's there," he said, pointing to the name on the second line.

"Virgil Harkiss," read Sirius aloud, making a face as if he had eaten an unappetizing Bertie Bott Bean. "Never heard of him," he added as an afterthought.

"'Harkiss' sounds familiar," murmured Remus, scanning the story.

"That's because that new Minister bloke's son owns Honeydukes," threw in Peter proudly. The others looked inquiringly at him. "Page four," explained Peter, nodding towards the newspaper.

The Marauders turned to page four and read that this was, in fact, true.

As Remus handed the paper off to a curious Paul Montreal, he, along with Sirius, James, and Peter sat down on their respective beds.

"That was somewhat anticlimactic," Remus observed thoughtfully, after a moment.

The others nodded.

"Are we sure we trust the father of the bloke who owns Honeydukes?" James asked.

Sirius looked up, surprised. "I can't think of anyone I trust more... I mean, it is Honeydukes, after all... not some cheap knock-off."

"I'm surprised they didn't want Dumbledore," added James presently.

"They did," said Peter, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Bottom of page 2..."

"What? Did you memorize the whole newspaper, Worms?" demanded Sirius.

"He's right, y'know," Paul, who had possession of said newspaper, informed them, as he skimmed the page himself.

"Prat," murmured Sirius.

Remus exhaled noisily as he began to pull of his socks. "I expect Hogwarts will be flooded again," he said sagely.

"Flooded?" asked the other Marauders in unison. "When the snow melts, do you mean?" Peter added.

"_With reporters_," corrected Remus. "They'll all want to see Dumbledore."

"He wasn't at meals yesterday, was he?" James said, just remembering the fact. "I suppose they needed him at the Ministry."

"He's back today," Peter chimed in. "He looked very serious."

"When does he _not_ look serious?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes.

Peter opened his mouth to reply, but James interrupted. He had been very thoughtful in the last few minutes, and his eyes had fallen on the bed that had remained unoccupied all night.

"Where's Frank?" he asked.

The other Marauders and Paul looked over at him. "What?" asked Peter, confused.

"Where's Frank?" James repeated. "He wasn't here last night and his bed hasn't been slept in." The question and statement seemed to be directed mainly towards Paul, who was more or less best friends with Frank Longbottom.

"I don't know where he is," admitted Paul, sitting down on his trunk. "He hasn't been around since early yesterday when he went to the Owlry to find out about his dad..."

"Maybe he found something out," Sirius muttered darkly.

Paul said nothing, but, standing, grabbed some clothes from the trunk and went into the bathroom, presumably to shower and change.

Half an hour later, the Marauders were in the Great Hall for breakfast. Most of the others were already finished, and only a few stragglers remained in the hall with them. Slughorn and Flitwick were the only remaining Professors, and Peter, though he had already eaten, was keeping his fellow Marauders company.

The question of Frank's whereabouts was all but forgotten, when the Gryffindor himself made an appearance, about halfway through James's second serving of French Toast. He walked directly to where the Marauders were sitting at the Gryffindor table.

"Guys," Frank asked, his voice quiet, "Where's the staff room?"

"Where've you been, Longbottom?" Sirius asked, not unkindly.

"About," shrugged the other in reply. His tone was quite neutral. "Can you tell me where the staff room his?"

"Bloody hell," swore Peter. "I thought everyone knew where that was by now." By coincidence, rather than premeditated design, the other three Marauders kicked Peter under the table. "OUCH! SHIT!" he swore again, and, to his credit, it probably hurt a great deal.

Mr. Moony silenced him with a glare, then returned to Frank. "You... you alright there, Frank?"

"What? oh... oh yeah, fine. Just fine..." Frank's voice was strangely high pitched now. "Just... got a letter... y'know, have to see... yeah, er... McGonagall... you know..."

"Staff room's on the second floor..." said Sirius, not taking his eyes off Frank. "The double doors on the right..."

Frank nodded. "Thanks, Black... b-be seeing you guys later, then..."

He made a hasty exit out of the hall, and the Marauders were left in silence. James broke it.

"Let me see the newspaper, will you?" he asked, waving a vague hand to Remus, who picked up the deserted _Daily Prophet_ from where it had sat on the bench next to him. He handed it to James, who skimmed through purposefully, with one last suspicion to confirm. "There it is," he murmured, when he'd found the page.

It was the obituaries.

He read through the names, and stopped when the one he was looking for was spotted.

_Edward Longbottom.  
October 14th, 1924- December 24th 1977  
Murdered by "Death Eaters"_

* * *

**Note:** So basically, it took me about ten years to write this. The first part flew by really quickly, then slowed slightly after the Lily/James argument, and then came to a complete halt where I didn't add a word for two weeks right after the part with James at breakfast on Christmas. I know, I know. I'm terrible. When I finally finished, I was both really busy, and completely not in the mood to proof read and edit... thus, it took me another two weeks. The late reviewers seriously inspired me to finish though, so kudos and thanks a lot to them :-P 

Anonymous Lovelies: **Teresa/bluegreensparkles **(mostly, Peter has been absent by accident... namely, it's focused a lot on Lily, and she's not that close with him. He was more major towards the beginning though, but does have some scenes in this one... enjoy your cookies), **Karen** (lol, sorry it took me so long, girl! And y'know... sorry for the whole self-combustion...), **tasz** (I love you! thanks for reviewing not just once, but twice! enjoy the cookies! I love you :-P) **princess **(thank you so much! Help yourself to virtual cookie), **sky sha** (wow! Thanks a lot! I'm really flattered!), and **loki** (first reviewer! Thank you much, I'm so glad you enjoy this, and I hope you continue to R&R!)

Be a love and review:-P  
Chapter 16 is... under renovations. The title is still up in the air. :-P

Cheers and Candy,  
_Jewels_


	16. The Tempest

_A/N_: Well, I had most of this written when I posted Chapter 15, but as I got closer and closer to finishing it, I decided I wanted to scrap it entirely. This was about two weeks after I'd updated, and I really just wasn't happy with how it was going, so I was going to skip it and add the important stuff to Chapter 17. However, in the end, I decided that this chapter was actually necessary, and that you would all have to wait another month for an update if I just skipped this and began on the next chapter. So, here is Chapter 16. You may thank **Karen** for the update... I might've taken another week or two without her :-P

_History_: JKR may be associated with all the things you like about this chapter. The rest is probably mine.

_Recap_: The Minister is assassinated and a new one is chosen. James and Lily argue but get over it surprisingly well (but not for long :-P)...

_One Last A/N_: This whole thing is sort of like a countdown to New Years, thus the frequent day dividers. Love to reviewers!

**Chapter 16- "The Tempest"  
**(aka-** "5 Days"**)  
_"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." –Helen Keller_

There was a New Minister of Magic.

It occurred to Lily, while she sat cross-legged on the floor in a corner of her sleeping dormitory on Boxing Day, that Julian Turnus was the only Minister of Magic she'd ever known. She'd been eleven at her introduction to the wizarding world, and Turnus had already risen to the position by that time. Somehow, the name "Virgil Harkiss" didn't sound quite the same with the title.

It was Sunday morning, and about eight o'clock at that. The Early Edition had just arrived and Lily, being in her dormitory rather than down at breakfast, was delivered to by the owl where she now sat, rather than down in the Great Hall. The other girls in her dormitory were still asleep, except for Eden, who was absent from the dormitory all together, as was usual. She was undoubtedly out running, despite the snow covered ground and thirty-five degree temperature.

The newspaper owl had gone now and the newspaper itself was discarded across the room. Lily still sat in her corner, staring at a piece of parchment in front of her and thinking of all sorts of things that had nothing to do with said parchment. These things included the new Minister.

Lily had promised Alice that she would write on this insignificant piece of parchment and have the whole thing finished with by the end of the day. However, the parchment, as well as Lily's head, was left blank at the moment. She couldn't write on it. She didn't know what to say.

With a sigh, Lily picked up the quill from where it rested on a book ("Advanced Potion Making") with the inkwell. She dipped the quill in the well and tried again. She got a little further than before.

"Dear Elijah,"

Lily paused and leaned back against the wall, twirling the quill thoughtfully.

Nope. Nothing.

The matter of Elijah was one that had avoided Lily expertly in the last few days... or perhaps it was the other way around. Somehow or another, though, Lily had been most unbothered lately by thoughts of her boyfriend... if he could really be called that more.

The night before, just after Alice had reminded her that she had to write to the bloke at some point, Lily had spent a good deal of time wondering what her "status-" so to speak- was regarding Elijah Trent. They hadn't exactly broken up, but they were hardly on good terms. What should she refer to him as, though?

And then Lily reprimanded herself.

It was all so superficial, thinking about things like that now. The newspaper she'd tossed onto the desk was so much more important than the parchment she'd positioned in front of her. Yet, she'd promised Alice that she would write to him. Maybe it was important. Maybe it mattered, just a little, about the individual, even in times like these. Maybe (most likely) when she told herself it didn't matter whether she wrote to Elijah right now or not, she was only giving herself excuses, because she didn't really want to write it yet.

But she would write the letter.

Just not right now...

Lily stood abruptly, picked up the parchment, quill, and ink from the floor, and set them on the desk. Then, grabbing her bathrobe from where it was draped on a chair near the door, she turned and entered the bathroom to get the good shower, before Eden could return from her run and steal it.

* * *

It was one day since the new Minister had been chosen, two days since Christmas, three days since Julian Turnus's assassination, and four days since Lily had had a good night's sleep, but the Head Girl sat resolutely at breakfast on the twenty-seventh of December with Eden, Lexi, and Alice, tired out of her mind. 

Breakfast was noisy again.

In the wake of the Minister's assassination, it had been so silent that Lily had begun to suspect that everyone had forgotten how to use his or her voice boxes. Now, however, any doubt that may have remained after Christmas had quite vanished, for people were talking again. The Marauders were consulting with each other over something or other down the Gryffindor table, Rian Orlando was stealing glances at Eden (who hadn't noticed yet), and the only people that seemed to be completely quiet in the whole Hall at the moment were Professor Dumbledore, Lily herself, and Paul Montreal.

Paul looked different, sitting silently at the table, eating his breakfast alone and expressionlessly. Frank had left the school on Christmas, and those two were rarely seen one without the other. They were the only non-Marauder Gryffindor males in Lily's year, and though the Quidditch Keeper was currently sitting next Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter (directly next to Sirius), he seemed distanced from them.

Everyone knew why of course. Even those students who didn't make a habit of keeping up with current affairs had been reading the important parts of the newspaper over the last few days. You didn't have to scan the obituaries to find news of Edward Longbottom's death. There was an article on Page 2 about the aurors who had died with the Minister on the Christmas Eve, and there was a memorial to all who had been murdered by Voldemort in the last two weeks on the last page. The late Minister, his family, and the party accompanying him were in bold letters. Everyone knew about Frank's father and where Frank himself had gone, but no one said anything.

Thus, Paul sat at the Gryffindor table eating bacon and eggs, and trying to look as normal as everyone else. But he failed, because he wasn't talking.

"Mail's here," observed Eden, as the owls began to soar into the hall, carrying burdens of all shapes and sizes. About eighty percent of them carried a newspaper, one of which dropped its delivery on Lily's plate. She unrolled it, and read the largest headline hastily.

_"**Harkiss Makes First Statement as Minister."**_

Lily continued to read (as did her friends) the article below it with interest.

_"Late last night, newly selected Minister of Magic, Virgil Harkiss, delivered his first official address since assuming the position. The audience- consisting primarily of top Ministry officials, the Wizengamot, and carefully selected Daily Prophet and other press agents- were informed of the Minister's unspecific plans to bring the dark wizards responsible for the late Minister's death to justice. Harkiss was met with thunderous applause when he announced his design to improve foreign relations in order that other countries may work symbiotically with us to stop the Dark Wizards and their spread of power not only in Britain, but also across all of Europe._

_Further plans expressed by Harkiss included research to develop more affective Veritaserum potions to be used in investigating "Death Eaters," the distribution of educational material for the protection of the common witch or wizard (especially regarding Inferi, the Imperius Curse, etc.), and the institution of a protective system working for "at risk" witches and wizards._

_The Minister ended his speech with the following:_

_'...I promise that I, and the entirety of Britain's Ministry of Magic, will do everything- use every resource available to us- to end this reign of black magic. These so-called 'Death Eaters' will meet the end of their reign of terror and the families affected by them will see justice brought to... to Lord Voldemort.'"_

"He said the name!" muttered Alice in surprise, as they finished reading the story, and Lily set down the newspaper.

"Of course he did," said the ever no-nonsense Lexi, who had finished reading several moments earlier than the rest. "If he's more ambitious than he is scared, Harkiss had no other choice but to say 'the name.'"

Alice raised her eyebrows.

"Well," continued Lexi, "look how brave it makes him look... how strong everyone will think he is now. He's the Minister who's got courage enough to say You-Know-Who's name. Fantastic."

Alice sighed now, as she began to poke at her scrambled eggs. "I suppose you don't believe he's anything good then, do you, Lex? Just another politician?" Her tone was not accusatory, but it was dismal.

"We don't doubt he really wants to get You-Know-Who out of power and track down all the Death Eaters and end the war and all that jolly stuff, but we also don't doubt he's got political motivations as well as moral ones."

When Lexi had finished saying this, Alice stood. "I can only hope his moral and just motivations are the primary ones, or we'll get nowhere. What good is a Minister who only does things to be remembered as the 'Minister Who Got Rid of Voldemort?' I have to mail a letter... see you later." And with that said, she left the Hall, walking with a little less spring in her step than usual.

Lily stood up as well.

"Any parting moral points from you, Lilith?" asked Eden lightly, skimming through page two for an article of interest.

"I've got a Head meeting," Lily told them, ignoring Eden's comment. "See you guys later."

"I was really hoping for some parting morality!" grumbled the blonde after her, though not looking up from her newspaper.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

"That's not morality... And it's boring!"

So, apparently, was the conversation- at least to Lily- because she discontinued it as she walked out of the Great Hall. Eden continued to read the paper.

James was just about to enter the East Tower Room when Lily arrived and said 'hello' with definite (if forced) indifference. James didn't reply with a 'hello' or even a 'hi' or 'hey.' Instead, he, in all is James-ish directness, said: "You seen the newspaper?"

Lily nodded as the ascended the steps to the room.

"Did you read the new Minister's speech?"

"Only the part that was in the story..."

"What did you think of it? 'Promised to bring Voldemort to justice. Bit stupid, if you ask me."

"Oh yes, why would anyone want to do that?" replied Lily sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Apart from the fact that Voldemort hates muggleborns, wants absolute power, and has this fetish for killing people. But, y'know... why get in his way, right?"

"I meant..." said James, as the entered the room for their meeting... "It's a bit stupid of him... the Minister, I mean... to be so confident that he can stop him. Voldemort."

Lily raised her eyebrows and took her seat at the oblong table, across from the Head Boy. "Do you know anything about politics, Potter?"

"Yes."

"Well here's a newsflash for you: Harkiss is a politician. Politicians tell people want they want to hear. Everyone wants to hear that we can get rid of Voldemort. Transitively, Harkiss acted quite naturally." She felt like Lexi in saying this.

James stared at her for a moment, arms folded.

"What's a newsflash?" he asked at length.

Lily rolled her eyes again and shook her head, smirking a little. "Oh shut up," she said, crumpling up a blank sheet of parchment and throwing it at him. He dodged it, and at that moment, McGonagall came in.

"Good, good," muttered the deputy headmistress, seeing they were both present and on time. She handed them a stack of parchments, and Lily saw that she looked slightly harassed. Her hair, which was usually pulled into a sleek, tight bun, was slightly mussed (though still in a tight bun), and the unfortunate teacher looked a little paler than usual.

"Alright there, Professor?" asked James, with a clear attempt at cheerfulness.

"Busy week, you know, Potter," was the simple reply. "Well, finish as much of that..." she pointed to the parchments... "By the end of the meeting. See you in an hour, then."

McGonagall exited, and James picked up the first piece of parchment.

"Oh lovely," he said sarcastically. "We get to schedule deten... bloody hell!"

Lily looked up. "What is it?"

"We're scheduling detentions..." James began slowly.

"And...?"

"There isn't a Marauder on this list! None of us got detention in the last week! Quick, Red... what's something I can get detention for really fast?"

"If you run now you might be able to catch McGonagall," suggested Lily. "Kiss her on the lips. See what she does!"

James leaned back. "I said 'detention,' Red. Not... 'decapitation!'"

* * *

"Move along! Move along to the Great Hall! C'mon! There's no show... You there! Yes, you with the curly hair... don't talk to them... You heard McGonagall... Move along, you lot!" 

Students, some disappointed, some anxious, moved through the Entrance Hall and into the Great Hall on Tuesday afternoon for lunch. Lily rolled her eyes as she ushered them in, for the Entrance Hall was, as of that moment, crawling with reporters, trying to get a word with Dumbledore but with no success. Professors McGonagall and Slughorn had repeatedly told them that they should leave the premises immediately, but since that had done no good, and since Dumbledore himself was nowhere to be found at the moment, Slughorn had finally said that if they "must stay, than stay in the damned Entrance Hall, and if you step one toe elsewhere we'll have Dumbledore on you, and you'll be in no good way then!"

Professor McGonagall, meanwhile, told the students (in a more collected manner) to steer clear from the reporters and not speak to any of them- as if the reporters were liable to eat the first years. Lily was exerting her best efforts to get people to follow McGonagall's advice, but her fellow students, having been told so explicitly not to talk to the visitors, absolutely needed to do exactly that. The reporters themselves weren't helping. Several had tried to bribe younger children to show them the way to Dumbledore's office. Luckily, Lily had noticed this and put a stop to it.

When more or less all of the student body was in the Great Hall, McGonagall, Slughorn, and several of the staff left again and the large wooden doors echoed as they were pulled closed by Hagrid.

Lily took a seat by herself at the Gryffindor table, since in the chaos of getting inside she seemed to have misplaced her friends. She saw Eden talking with her boyfriend, Rian, over by the Ravenclaw table, however, and suspected that she would not be coming over to eat with her own house any time soon. So Lily sat alone, not knowing where her other so-called friends were, completely lost to her thoughts.

She was interrupted by a voice.

"Er... Lily?"

She jumped and looked around quickly to see a short boy that she thought might be a second year, standing at her elbow and looking expectantly at her.

"Yeah?" was the reply, which Lily hoped sounded at least a little polite.

"Er..." began the boy, then he collected himself and spit out: "I was wondering if you could tell James Potter that Professor Dumbledore wants to see him."

Lily looked uncertainly at the second year. "What? Why?"

"I don't know... he just asked me to find James Potter and ask him to drop by his office..."

That hadn't answered Lily's question, but she pressed on despite. "Well then why don't you ask him? He shouldn't be too hard to find. If there's a food fight at the Gryffindor table, it's a sure sign."

"Well... I was sort of hoping you'd speak to him for me," continued the boy.

Lily stared. "Why?" was all she could say.

The boy sighed. "Because... well, because James is a little..." he broke off, searching his vocabulary for the appropriate word.

"Loud?" Lily offered. "Rambunctious? Provocative? Larger than life? Intimidating?"

"That's the one. Intimidating. You know what I mean, don't you?"

"Er..."

"Well it's just... y'know... he's James Potter. I've heard stories, I have."

"I've seen stories... why would you ask me? go ask Sirius, why don't you? he's Potter's best friend..." This child was, after all, interrupting Lily's lunch.

"Sirius is scarier than James is!"

Admittedly, a fair point.

"What are you... four?"

"Twelve."

"Should've known. Well, why d'you ask me of all people, anyway?"

The boy looked at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're not scary," he said with a shrug.

"You're awful bold for someone who's afraid of James Potter."

"Well, you strike the younger kids as more... helpful."

"But why the hell are you asking me? Why not Redival Shelley?" Lily could not keep the inexplicable contempt out of her voice... "She's his girlfriend..."

"You're one of his friends, aren't you?" asked the boy, a little wearily.

Lily stared at the twelve-year-old. One of his friends? One of James Potter's friends? No. Absolutely not. She wasn't even close to being one of his friends! Of that, she was sure... if nothing else. But did this twelve year old honestly see her as one of his friends? Friends? Did other naïve people think that? Merlin, had no one been paying attention for the last five years?

Little children were stupid, and that was a fact.

"Dumbledore," said the Head Girl after a moment of private debate and confusion, "asked you to find James and tell him, which would imply that he wants you to find James and tell him, which would assume that he does not want me to find James and tell him. So... well... go find James and tell him."

The boy sighed. "I thought you were helpful," he muttered, beginning to make his way out of the Hall.

"Not on Wednesdays," Lily called after him.

"It's not Wednesday!"

"Well not on Wednesdays or today!"

* * *

It wasn't bothering her. 

Honestly, it wasn't.

Not at all.

She hadn't thought of it once.

At all.

Well, maybe a little bit.

Or maybe non-stop for the past twenty-four hours.

But, y'know... it didn't mean anything.

Much.

But c'mon... did people really think they were friends?

It really surpassed comprehension. How could anyone who had eyes (or ears, for that matter) think that Lily was friends with James Potter? He was... he was James. She was Lily. They were born to be enemies. They were enemies. Sort of.

Admittedly, over the past couple weeks... months... they had been forced into working more and more with each other, what with their Headship, but no one could assume from that that they were feeling anything but excruciating pain from the experience.

...Except that maybe they had stopped screaming at each other in the corridors and glaring at each other all through meals and classes. And except that maybe she hadn't hexed him to cough up vegetable oil and he hadn't filled her bed with cockroaches once all year. But those were immature things that fifteen-year-olds- and sixteen-year-olds- did... not grown up mature seventeen-year-olds...

Lily almost laughed out loud at the idea of Potter and herself being referred to as "grown up mature seventeen-year-olds."

"Lily Evans, where the bloody hell are you?" demanded the voice of Eden.

"Not here," was Lily's reply.

Eden threw open the curtains of Lily's four-poster and glared at her friend. "It's nearly ten o'clock," the blonde informed her coolly, as if it was quite past her comprehension how anyone could sleep in until ten o'clock.

"Normal teenage girls sleep in until one," Lily replied, sitting up nonetheless. She clutched her blankets about her, acting modest. "And you should warn me... I could have been indecently clothed..." she said this last part with uncharacteristic pompousness in her voice that made Eden laugh.

"Right. Whatever. Do you know what today is?"

"Wednesday the... er... twenty-ninth?"

"No. Well, yes, but today is the day I have to finish all the my Potions homework Slughorn assigned over Christmas holiday."

"How does this pertain to my having a bit of a lie-in, pray tell?"

"I have Quidditch from noon until whenever James let's us out... which could be next Tuesday, for all I know... so you have to help me with my Potions homework pronto or else I will never get it done... darling." She added the last word as a mere formality with which to coax Lily out of bed.

"Who said I was going to help you with Potions homework?"

"You did, yesterday."

"Damn it."

"That's right."

Half an hour later, when Lily was washed and dressed and somewhat awake, the redhead was on her way down to the library alone, because Eden- in her impatience for Lily to get herself ready- had dashed of "just for a minute" to see Rian, with every intention of meeting Lily in the library on time. As Lily was sure to remind her friend later: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

In the library, Lily took a seat near the window and opened her Potions book, quite proud of herself for not procrastinating. She pulled out a piece of parchment from her book bag, and then a quill and ink. Then she sort of killed the moment by staring at the blank parchment for a few minutes, doodling a whole street of houses along the top of it, and counting how many drops of ink fell from her quill if she held it a few inches above the paper.

"I've just had the most brilliant idea!"

Lily looked up in surprise to see James sliding into the seat opposite her.

"W-w-what are you doing here?" she stammered in a loud whisper.

James rolled his eyes. "Talking to you. Now listen. I've just been..."

"I'm doing homework, Potter."

The Head Boy glanced at her doodles. "Obviously."

"I was brainstorming."

"I won't debate it. Now listen, okay? So Dumble..."

"Not now, Potter. I don't really care."

"How can you not care?"

"Because I don't!"

Madame Pince, who was evidently not a morning person, glared in their direction and Lily mouthed "Sorry!" before returning to her "homework." She refused to look at James, who rolled his eyes again.

"C'mon. Not the time to be stubborn, Red."

"I'm not stubborn," said Lily simply.

James raised an eyebrow. "You're one of the most stubborn people I know."

"You need to get out more."

"You need to shut it and listen. See..."

But the twelve-year-old's opinion of Lily and James was something that the Head Girl could not get out of her head, and in all honesty, she was terrified by it.

"I don't know why you're..." Lily began, but broke off as the Librarian hushed her angrily. "Sorry..." She then continued in a dignified loud whisper: "I don't know why you're talking to me, Potter. We're not friends. We're not... co-conspirators! We're barely even allies! Now will you please- Sorry, Madame Pince- will you please leave me alone!"

She stood and picked up her things to stalk out of the library, but as she did so caught sight of James's face, which was nothing short of bewildered.

* * *

The Library was mostly empty on Thursday evening, and Lily sat there alone again, for Eden and Lexi were at Quidditch practice, and Alice had mysteriously disappeared after dinner. Lily wasn't exactly sure what the current situation was with Alice and her boyfriend, Leander, but she would not have been surprised if they had once again broken up (that is, Leander had broken up with Alice) during Slughorn's Christmas Party. Alice had left early, after all, and Leander had been flirting with just about every girl in the room (until they rolled their eyes and walked away). 

But not knowing exactly how to react to Alice's silence on the matter, Lily was left alone in the library, not really doing homework, but trying to. It would have been a very depressing scene, if three mildly good-looking boys hadn't already respectively offered to occupy the seat across from her. Lily had refused, because she wasn't really in the mood to entertain. But she had refused politely and at least made it sound like she was disappointed that she had to.

Just as Lily finished doodling a set of dress robes she would never wear in the corner of her parchment, another voice interrupted her solitude.

"Well if it isn't Evans... all alone? Where's Potter? Surely he wouldn't leave you hear to fend for yourself?"

Severus Snape.

Just what she needed.

Lily rolled her eyes and looked over at him coldly. "As flattered as I am that you take to it so, I'd rather you stopped stalking me. People will begin to ask questions."

"And Potter might be offended," added Snape, standing over her table and looking down, condescension in his black eyes.

"I doubt it, but you never know. I might get lucky and he'll decide to hex you into next year..."

"So you do need his defense."

"Well I don't need you, so I'd love it if you sod off."

"Brilliant comeback."

"And yours was so much better?"

"Tell me," said Snape, in a quiet, taunting tone. He smirked down at her, and Lily wondered very much why she was plagued with being the only one that Snape made an effort to talk to... even if it was to insult and annoy her. "Don't you ever feel too full of thought... sitting here alone? Don't you ever want to do something about... about everything that's going on outside the walls of the castle? Sneak about a bit... investigate?"

Oh, Merlin.

He knew.

Something in his eyes told her that he knew.

Lily did her very best to hide her surprise and anxiety. "I don't know what you're talking about, Snape."

"Don't you." It wasn't a question.

"No," snapped the redhead. "Now unless you want me to call the Ravenclaw beater who was trying to get my attention three minutes ago to come and have his say to you, I suggest you stop insinuating..."

"I wasn't insinuating anything," interrupted Snape as innocently as Snape ever could say anything. "I was merely suggesting you get a pensieve. Helps, you know, when you're head is too full... Be seeing you."

He left the library, and Lily covered her face with her hands..

He knew. Snape knew what she and Potter had been up to. But how much did he know? How did he know? Did he know about Halloween? About the forest? Was that the purpose of his visit to her in the library? What would he do? Blackmail her?

Lily breathed deeply and tried to get back to her homework, but with no success. In the end, she crumpled up the parchment and tossed it in the bin, before collecting her things and exiting the library. She wouldn't sleep well tonight.

* * *

"Ten minutes, everyone!" shouted Sirius, from where he stood on the table in the center of the room. The majority cheered at the proclamation, and Sirius raised his butterbeer bottle to them, before taking a large gulp. Lily observed the Marauder from where she sat in the corner of the room, chatting with Eddie Bones. 

New Years Eve had come to Hogwarts, and everyone who was anyone (and a few others) had come to the Room of Requirement for the traditional Marauder party. This "everyone" mainly consisted of most of the fifth through seventh year Gryffindors, a few underclassman, over a dozen Ravenclaws, about the same number of Hufflepuffs, four or five decent Slytherins, and even a teacher or two (Slughorn, the Astronomy and Divination professors, and though McGonagall had been cordially invited by Sirius, her arrival was doubtful).

The Marauders were, of course, running the show, which meant at least a little alcohol would be provided at midnight ("Nothing too hard," James had promised Lexi and Professor Slughorn), and plenty of food and refreshment would be thrust on the crowd in the mean time.

The room had been transformed into a large hall- complete with tables, chairs, and couches- that somewhat resembled a typical common room. James was standing across the room from Lily (about as far as it was possible to be) with Redival, and the Head Girl was desperate to talk to him in spite of herself. She needed to tell him about what Snape had said to her the evening before, but had had no opportunity all day and was hoping that this party would provide her with one.

She'd been there for two hours and had had no success. He was avoiding her, she thought, and even if he wasn't, Redival was always there.

"What's the matter with you, Red?" Eddie asked, when Lily became so distracted she had knocked over someone's butterbeer on the table next to them.

"Sorry," Lily muttered to the fourth year, before flicking her wand and repairing the butterbeer bottle. She looked at Eddie. "Nothing's the matter. I'm just tired, y'know... didn't sleep well last night... won't sleep at all tonight."

Eddie looked skeptical but nodded. "So what do you think of the news, then?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Which news?"

"About the new Minister," Eddie clarified. "Haven't you heard? It was in The Prophet this morning. I thought you read that obsessively."

"I usually do," Lily admitted, sipping her butterbeer. "I didn't have breakfast with everyone else this morning though. What's the news?"

"'Don't know how you could not have heard," Eddie said, with a smug smile. "It's been all around school. But if you've been as preoccupied as you are now..." he glanced over his shoulder to see what Lily could possibly be looking at, but seeing nothing, faced her again... "then I guess it's perfectly possible it could've flown right past you."

"What are you talking about, Ed?" Lily demanded, in a would-be casual voice.

"The Minister's coming to Hogwarts," Eddie told her. "He announced it in another address this morning..."

"When's he coming?"

"February. He's supposed to meet with the students and talk to us about all that usual jazz. Should be mildly interesting, and even if it's not, we'll get out of classes on Friday afternoon."

"What day?" Lily asked curiously.

"The twenty-first, I think it said."

Lily nodded and was about to say something when she spotted Eden loitering near the practically abolished drink table. "Look, there's E... haven't talked to her all afternoon... I'm gonna go see her. Coming?" She looked expectantly at Eddie, but he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm gonna go find Victoria—Peter Pettigrew said she was looking for me earlier and I'd hate to pass up an opportunity..." Eddie winked and made his way through the crowd in search of the Hufflepuff, and Lily, shaking her head and smiling, walked over to Eden.

"Hey, E," she said when she came to the blonde. "Where's Rian?"

"Getting something from his Common Room," Eden replied. "Merlin only knows what. How are you faring?"

"Good enough, I guess. Seen Lexi or Alice?"

"Not Al, but last I saw, Lexi was over there..." Eden pointed across the room to where their dark-haired friend stood... "talking with Paul Montreal."

Lily raised her eyebrows knowingly. "Paul Montreal? Quite the shock, that is."

Eden grinned and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know. Frank Longbottom, indeed. Really, now."

Lily smiled vaguely in reply, then continued more seriously. "'Wonder where Alice is. 'Haven't seen her since we got here..."

"You two came together, did you?" Eden joked.

"Oh yeah, definitely," was the redhead's sardonic reply. "Look, Rian's coming back. Hmmm, I half expected to see him with a bouquet of roses."

"I'm most disappointed," Eden said wryly. "Well, I better go talk to him... join us, won't ya, Red?"

"Nah, I'm okay. I'm gonna find Alice. I think Leander might've broke up with her again and I want to talk to her."

Eden nodded. "My regards to her. I'll sock Leander one next time I see him," she added vehemently. Lily did not doubt this as she turned and meandered through the crowd in search of her friend. She located Alice in a chair by the fireplace.

But the brunette wasn't moping. She was chatting in a perfectly casual manner (though Alice was almost always casual with just about everyone) with Frank Longbottom. Lily raised her eyebrows again and shrugged, but decided not to interrupt. They looked like they were having a conversation that was- at the very least- not depressed, and that was an accomplishment. Frank had only returned to the school the day before, but he had hardly spoken two words since then. Except now, he really looked perfectly normal talking with Alice, though, admittedly, no smile came near his features.

"Six minutes till midnight!" shouted Sirius, now off the table and sitting on a couch between his girlfriend, Rachel Brossle, and a blonde that Lily didn't know. The blonde looked a little disappointed that most of Sirius's attention was focused on Rachel, and Rachel looked extremely annoyed that any of Sirius's attention was focused on the blonde, who was very pretty.

"Hey, Lily!" came a voice over the din of the party. The redhead looked about to see Remus grinning at her.

"Hey there, Lupin!" said Lily loudly, for it was very noisy where they were, in the center of the room. "Happy New Years!"

"To you too! You looked a little lost!"

"I've been ditched by my so-called friends," Lily explained, nearly shouting. Remus looked about and saw that this was, in fact true. Lexi was still in animated conversation with Paul about something that made them both look rather serious. Rian was playing with Eden's hair and looking as if he did not want to wait five minutes for the traditional midnight kiss. Remus then spotted Alice and observed aloud: "You know, I don't think Frank's said as much in the last twenty-four hours as he has talking to Alice in the last five seconds I've seen them."

Lily nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad he's talking again."

"He hasn't even said anything to Paul beyond 'Hey, Twenty-Two.'"

"I hope he'll be alright."

"It's nice of Alice to talk to him."

"And he's not even moping."

Remus and Lily observed the pair across the room for a minute, as Sirius announced the time to be three minutes left. "So what's your New Years resolution?" Lily asked presently. "No more detentions? Getting all your homework in on time? Losing some weight? Though I expect you'd vanish altogether if you did."

"Mum always does New Year resolutions," Remus observed thoughtfully. "Seems like sort of a girl thing, doesn't it?"

"No!" insisted Lily. "Now you have to do something in reparation for that insult... c'mon, tell me!"

Remus shrugged. "I won't ask Sirius for any answers on Transfiguration homework, and I won't answer any of his in Dark Arts."

"Sounds very noble," Lily told him.

"I think so," Remus agreed. "I'm thirsty," he added, a minute later; "I'm gonna go get a drink. Want anything?"

"I'll come with you," volunteered the Head Girl.

"Nah, stay here. I'll be right back with butterbeer."

"One minute to midnight!" announced Sirius over the crowd.

Lily grinned and watched Remus battle his way through the heavily populated room towards somewhere he might be able to get drinks. Then, she turned and glanced (without meaning it) to where James and Redival had been standing. They were no longer there, however, and she could not see either of them anywhere else.

"S'cuse me," said James Potter's voice at twenty seconds to midnight, and Lily jumped slightly at the sound of it. In doing so, she allowed him to accomplish his task of getting through. Then she remembered that she needed to talk to him.

"James!" she said loudly, and he turned to look at her, his face perfectly expressionless. "I need to talk to you," said the redhead, knowing what was coming. "It's about Snape! He..."

"Why are you talking to me?" James interrupted predictably. "It's not like we're friends... hardly even allies!"

"Potter," pleaded Lily. "It's Snape! Listen, he..."

But, much to Lily's surprise, James had already turned around and was pushing through the crowd away from her. Remus returned a moment later with the drinks, and Sirius began the countdown.

"Ten!" said Sirius, and then everyone else joined in: "Nine!"

"Here," began Remus, offering her a glass. "No butterbeer, but it's cham... what's the matter, Lily?" he noticed her downcast face.

"Six...!"

"Nothing, nothing. I was just thinking. Champagne? Thanks..." She took the glass.

"Three..."

Lily raised her glass to Remus.

"Two...!. one...! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Everyone cheered, and Lily clapped and laughed appropriately as fireworks were set off all along the high ceiling of the room. Remus grinned. "Fireworks courtesy of Prongs and me," he told her loudly. It was very noisy now. "Happy New Year! You sure you're okay?"

Lily smiled at Remus a little dryly and nodded. "Peachy," she assured the Marauder. She stood on her toes and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Welcome to 1978, Remus!"

* * *

_"Saturday, 1-1-78_

_Dear Elijah,_

_Hey there. I know there's got to be chaos ruling where you are at the moment, so I'll keep this relatively brief. I don't know if you've been expecting this letter, but if I know you even a _little_ bit, then you probably have. In any case, it's been pretty clear to me that I've been going to owl you soon enough. This letter, though, might not be the one you (or I) expected. _

_First of all, I want to apologize. I'm _so_ sorry for how I acted at the Christmas Eve Party. There's absolutely no excuse. I was selfish, and I hope you'll forgive me that. Hopefully, you won't stop reading there and write back in a hurry, because I've got more to say. _

_Secondly, I'd like to thank you for coming. It meant an unbelievable amount to me, because the last couple of months had been kind of hard. Thanks for taking time. _

_I'm not perfect, Elijah. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "No one expects you to be." See, I _can_ read your mind, too! But at the Party, one thing you said to me stuck more than anything. You said I was perfect. I'm not. I mean, off the top of my head, I can think of about six million things not perfect about me. And that's only off the top of my head._

_I _never_ wash off my eyeliner before I go to bed. I wash my face and everything, but I never take the time to rub around my eyes with lotion or anything to get the bloody make-up off. Apparently, you can get an eye infection if you leave it on, but I haven't yet, and I'm still too damn stubborn to take the eyeliner off. Did you know all that? That's why it's always runny in the morning... but I like that for some reason._

_I sucked my thumb until I was eight. That's why my teeth were still so crooked till I was like... eleven. I don't floss. I'm too lazy to. I'm bossy, I'm stubborn as hell, and I actually like the clothes that the girl who sings back up in "Artemus Arrow" wears. I hate the Tornadoes and I never read that book you gave me last fall. I'm a coward, because some things should always be done face-to-face, but (in my defense) that's just impractical in our case. And I'm so self-centered that the most used words in the letter have been a personal pronouns in the first person (e.g. "I" or "me")_

_I'm sorry, Elijah, for being such a prick, and for not being perfect, and for taking so long to write this letter. And I'm sorry for dancing with all those other guys after you didn't want to dance at the Christmas party. I think we should break up._

_Yours and all that,_

_Lily"_

Lily folded it up and sent it away with the owl.

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

A/N: The end of Chapter 16. Finally. Again, special thanks to** Karen** for the late review that inspired me to suck it up and finish the chapter. What would I do without her reminders:-P Love and cookies to all reviewers!

And a special lovely thanks to the anonymouses: **Tas** (you're right, and thanks- it's possible that this is miss-categorized :-/), **Tasz **(LoL, thank-you, Dear. Strawberry explosion is a good idea :-P, and if you have theories you MUST share them with me! I'd love to know what you suspect is going on! You can review them to me, or e-mail or both! Thanks a ton), **Tansy Arron-Walker **(thank you so much for review! It was really great to get such positive feedback, and I hope you'll continue to R&R! help yourself to virtual cookies), **Gavin** (sorry you think so... it is a bit slow moving, and if you don't like it up to this point, chapter 16 will only irritate you more. It will pick up in the next couple of chapters), and of course **Karen** (your update, as you requested :-P). Cookies all 'round!

Logged-in reviewers should have your kosher review responses by now. :-D

Cheers and candy,  
Jewels


	17. Future Tense

_NFtC: _You may be annoyed with this chapter because it isn't absolutely action packed, and while, I sympathize, I also have an excuse. There are lots of plotlines running right now, the main ones being the Death Eater/Spy one and the L/J relationship, but remember that there is also the unfolding of the group's 7th year, which is a primary focus of this chap. Also this is a very important chapter for Lily's character, and for those who are worried about me writing a St. James: don't worry. I'm attacking him soon enough :-P. Love to reviewers! 

_History_: JKR owns concepts, characters, and a billion dollar franchise. I own the computer, some OCs, and very little else. God owns us all. Bwahahaha!

_Recap_: Lily wounds James's pride or whatever and he pretty much burns her at a New Years party. Also during the party, Eddie Bones tells the Head Girl that the Minister of Magic will be visiting the school in February. Lily **breaks up** with Elijah. Secondary OCs to keep track of: Rachel (Sirius's girlfriend); Rian (Eden's boyfriend); Paul Montreal (Gryffindor Keeper); Leander (Alice's on-and-off boyfriend). –for those who forget OCs as easily as I do :-P

And, once again, many thanks to Karen, who beats me into updating :-D

**Chapter 17- "Future Tense"  
**"_I never think of the future—it comes soon enough."_ –Albert Einstein

"Do you like February, E?" Lily asked of her friend on the first day of that month, as they sat in the library, supposedly doing homework. Eden set down her quill and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"No," she answered finally. "I don't really. It's a very... droll month."

"That's what I think," Lily agreed with equal thoughtfulness. "I can't think of a single day in February that I like consistently every year."

Eden nodded. "That's positively tragic, that is. We should make up a holiday to lighten it up a bit."

"February's already got a holiday," Lily reminded her. "Valentine's Day is the fourteenth."

"Oh that's right; I though it was in March for a second. But I think Valentine's Day is a weak holiday, don't you?"

"Mmmm, yes."

"There ought to be something flashier- or at least more interesting. Something like..."

"Career Advice Day?" suggested Lily, holding up a flier for her friend's observance.

"Career Advice Day?" Eden repeated. "Heaven help us. And are those meetings coming up already?"

Lily handed the green-tinted parchment to Eden, who read the words on it at a hum. "Oh good," she said, once she'd finished. "They don't start till the twentieth—but aren't the meetings usually in May or something?"

"Seventh years have _three _Career Advice Meetings," Lily said. "Once in February, April, and May. Fifth years only have one in May."

"Ah to be young," sighed Eden reminiscently, then she added more seriously: "Do you have a schedule?" Lily handed her the requested parchment. "Why do you all have this and I don't?"

"Because you were 'sick' for the first two periods and McGonagall passed them out in Transfiguration."

"I _was_ sick," Eden defended. "It was a pure coincidence that I hadn't finished my Transfiguration homework... yet."

"Of course."

"'Glad I set you strait on that."

"Well thank-you much, E."

"You're so welcome."

A few days after the initial notices had been give for Career Advice meetings, the seventh years were given another reminder that their Hogwarts life was coming to a rapidly approaching close. Instead of the usual brochures that arrived for the O.W.L. students concerning job ideas and recommended N.E.W.T. classes, a large stack of applications for various jobs and the like arrived for hopeful seventh years to fill out.

During the first free period after the envelopes had appeared in the Common Room, the eleven Gryffindor seventh years gathered by the fireplace to look through the rather massive stack of parchment. In addition to the general applications, however, some students had been sent offers from various work places. James was one of these, and Peter had taken on the responsibility of reading through the offers for him.

"Prongs!" he said enthusiastically, as he read a letter that had arrived for a James in a maroon envelope. "You've got an offer from the Wigtown Wanderers! Someone scouted you at the Hufflepuff match and they want you to do a test fly..."

"Let me see that!" muttered Sirius, taking the letter from Peter's hands. "Bloody hell, Prongs, he's right!"

Rachel Brossle, who was arm and arm and sitting quite cozily with Sirius, read the letter over her boyfriend's shoulder. "That's terribly exciting, James!" she said, pushing a lock of short brown hair behind her ear.

"Terribly," agreed Eden in a sarcastic undertone to Lily, who sent her a would-be reprimanding smile.

"Can I have my letter, please?" asked James irritably, and Sirius handed it to his best friend reluctantly. James read the letter himself, and then set it down on the table next to the squashy chair he sat in, before continuing to read an application for Gringotts curse breaking.

"That's it?" Alice asked in surprise, looking up from a Ministry application to stare at James. "I thought you'd be jumping up and down off the walls in excitement!"

"Guess it hasn't soaked in yet," said James with a shrug. "Look, Twenty-Two," he added to Paul; "You've got a letter there, too... is that the Puddlemore United mascot?"

Paul picked up the letter quickly and opened it. "Merlin," he muttered, after reading it. "Looks like I've got a test fly too. And Puddlemore's one of the top teams. Too bad it's not the Wanderer's though."

James grinned. "Want mine?" he joked, pretending to toss his letter to the Keeper.

Lily observed all this from her seat opposite James's, with an avid curiosity. James was making light of something Lily would have thought he would consider sacred: that letter. Of course, she could not _ask_ him about why that might be, for he was currently not speaking to her. The whole affair was rather eleven-year-old-girlish. It had also made the last Head meeting much less easy (and even enjoyable) than the meeting at the end of December had been. In fact, it had made Lily's life in general more difficult.

"Look at this," said Lexi to the Head girl, bringing her out of her reverie. "An application for Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream shop; you could be a waitress, Lily!"

"If I could reach you," said the redhead, "I would slap you."

"Ha, ha!"

"Sod off, Lexi. What's that you're looking at, Al?"

Alice's cheeks turned faintly pink at the address. "Oh... er... just a Ministry form. Just a general application, of course. Who would seek me out with an offer, right?"

"Rubbish," protested Eden.

"What department?" Sirius wanted to know.

"Well, er... Magical Law Enforcement, actually," Alice replied very quickly and uncomfortably.

Lily, regretting having brought attention on her friend, quickly came to her rescue. "Look, here's one for a job at the _Daily Prophet_." Alice mouthed a "thank-you" as Remus took the _Prophet_ sheet with interest, and the subject was changed.

"What are you interested in, Frank?" Alice asked presently; her attempt to get him to talk was a little obvious perhaps, but apparently not much of a problem for him.

"Auror office," he muttered, without hesitation. "Mum wants me to do something safer, of course—a desk job or something—but I'm applying for field training."

"You're taking all the classes it requires already, aren't you?" Rachel asked politely, and Frank nodded.

"What about Sirius?" Eden asked, looking at the Marauder and smirking. "What sort of application is the Great Sirius Black looking at?"

"Well," said Sirius, a little cockily; "I've got three express job offers right here, as it were." He held up three different yellow parchment envelopes.

"Mmm... it's unanimous," said Remus with a grin. "You'd make an excellent bartender, Pads!"

Sirius tossed a quill at him and said: "Actually, two of them are from the Ministry."

"Where's the third one from?" Eden teased. "Madame Puddifoot's?"

"What is this: 'Berate Sirius Day?'"

"Well there you go," Eden said to Lily; "February has a new holiday!"

"Sounds like much more fun than Valentine's Day," replied Lily. "Rach, would you pass the Curse-breaker application over here?" Rachel leaned over with the Gringotts sheet, which Lily took and read over. "Nah, I'd need an 'O' in Arithmancy..."

"I thought you were interested in the Ministry, anyway, Lily," Lexi pointed out.

"Mmm..." was the redhead's vague reply. Eden and Lexi exchanged looks that did not escape Lily's notice, but no one commented.

"Hey, Prongs," said Peter; "you've got an offer from Pride of Portree, too, _and_ one from the Ministry. I reckon after your Dad's..." Peter broke off and everyone grew suddenly quiet. Lily looked about confusedly. "Er... well... here you go, Mate..." Peter stammered, handing the offers to James and growing very pale. Remus and Sirius began a conversation about Quidditch teams immediately, but James interrupted them.

"He's not _dead_," the Head Boy said to the group, in which everyone was either staring at him or trying not to. Lily still didn't know what was going on, but it was evident that she was the only one. "My dad's not dead," James clarified coolly. "You don't need to skirt around it like he is, you know." Peter cowered.

"Prongs, mate," said Sirius quickly, "Worms didn't mean anything. He just thought..."

"Thought I'd burst into tears at the mention of my Dad, did he? Well he's wrong. I don't need your pity. Other people might, but I don't."

"_James_," said Alice sharply and suddenly. She was not looking at him anymore, though, but her brown eyes had turned to Frank, who was not meeting anyone's stare. Everyone looked expectantly at Alice, who said nothing more. James nodded in understanding at the stern yet sympathetic faced brunette when she looked back at him.

"Ya alright," he muttered. "I'm gonna make a kitchen run—anybody want anything?" No one spoke. "Be back in a bit, then."

When James had gone, before anyone could strike up a conversation with which to break the silence, Frank cleared his throat a little awkwardly and said: "Y'know, I've got to owl a... er... send an owl. Be back in a minute." And he too was gone a moment later.

Presently, Rachel sighed and pulled Sirius' arm closer, and everyone else began to look through applications again as if nothing had happened. Except Lily. "Wait a minute," she said, thoroughly confused. "Wait a minute. What's going on? What's happened to James's dad? What was that all about?" Everyone looked at her, surprised.

Then, Sirius spoke up. "Mr. Potter's dying," he told her simply. "He's been sick for years... he got poisoned on the job, but it's been getting worse lately. 'Bout a month ago the poison started to work towards his heart... nobody knows a cure so... it's only a matter of time, really." The effort that Sirius was exerting to maintain equanimity in his voice did not escape Lily's notice. His eyes were bright with worry.

"And you all knew this?" the redhead asked, wondering how she could have been so clueless. The others nodded. "Well... who told you all?"

"Mrs. Potter wrote me," Sirius said, looking a little guilty now.

"Prongs told _us_," Remus said, indicating to Peter and himself.

The non-Marauders shrugged. "We just sort of... found out," said Eden, biting her lip. Lily nodded, pretending to understand. Where had she been in the last month, anyway? How could she have been so out of the loop? But what was more worrisome than the fact that she hadn't known the news, was the news itself. And _she'd_ blown him off.

James and Frank both returned within a half hour, and everyone acted as if nothing at all had happened. Lily was a little quieter, though, and a little more thoughtful as well.

* * *

"Moony!" whispered James to his fellow Marauder. "What're you taking notes for?" 

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'm taking notes because everything Flitwick's telling us at the moment is liable to pop up mysteriously on our N.E.W.T.s."

James sighed. "He'll repeat everything important a week before the tests; I guarantee it."

"You can't guarantee that," Remus whispered irritably.

"True, but..."

"Well then you're banking on luck."

"It's worked in the past," James reminded him.

"And it's incredibly stupid that you still got so many 'O' O.W.L.s."

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin!" squeaked Professor Flitwick from his stack of books in the front of the classroom. "Pay attention. This is definitely something you'll want to remember for the N.E.W.T. tests!" Both boys nodded, and Remus returned to his note taking.

"Bloody hell," murmured James. "I'm going to murder Padfoot. Why does he have to sit with _Rachel_ way over there, anyway? It's not as if they're going to be able to snog in the middle of class."

"Probably not," Remus muttered, a little doubtfully. Sirius usually found a way if he needed to. "But maybe, Padfoot just wants to spend time with Rachel. Maybe he doesn't just want a snog doll. Maybe he _likes_ to talk to his girlfriend."

James stared at Remus for a minute as if he'd never quite seen him before. Then his face relaxed, and he grinned. "Oh I get it," he whispered at length; "you're thinking that he thinks if he talks to her now, he can economize (y'know, save 'talk time' later) and get a good snog after class. Ya, I suppose it makes sense, but..."

Remus rolled his eyes. "That's _not _what I was saying," he interjected.

"C'mon," scoffed James quietly. "This is Pads we're talking about. He doesn't talk to his girlfriends! He _talks _to his girls-who-are-friends. Why do you think he broke up with E back in fourth year?"

"E broke up with _him_," Remus said unimportantly.

"Probably because they weren't talking anymore," dismissed James.

"I reckon Redival would ditch you if I repeated this conversation to her."

"Don't be a swot, Moony," reprimanded James. "Besides, we're talking about Sirius, not me." He jabbed Remus with a quill.

Remus swore loudly.

"Mr. Lupin, _please!_" squeaked Flitwick, uncharacteristically angry. The Marauder apologized, and then, when Flitwick had moved on, glared at a snickering James.

"I'm going to beat you later, Prongs."

"As if you could," retorted James. "And that reminds me: what applications have you filled out?"

"How did my beating you remind you of that?"

"The mind works in strange ways, mate."

"Yours does, anyway."

"Sod off. But no, I'm—don't you dare—serious. What jobs are you going to try for?"

Remus did not meet his friend's eye as he replied. "Well, er, none, actually."

James looked confused. "What? but you were..." he lowered his voice with a glance from Flitwick... "you were looking through applications with the rest of us, weren't you? what happened?"

Remus shrugged. "Nothing, I guess," he whispered wearily. "It's just... be realistic: I mean, who's going to hire _me_?"

"What d'you mean?"

For a third time, grey eyes flew to the ceiling before returning to where they pretended to focus on Flitwick. "People like me don't get good jobs, these days, Prongs," Remus sighed. "Even if employers don't have an issue with... my problem... themselves, everyone else does. It wouldn't be good for business, and _these _days, I'm just not a safe person to be around."

James glared. "That's not fair," he muttered venomously, though admittedly, the idea was not alien to him. "Just because you're..." Remus cut him off with a glance... "well, just because you've got your... _furry little problem_... doesn't mean you don't have a right to get paid like anyone else."

"Yeah, rots, doesn't it?" Remus whispered in failed nonchalance.

"I'd hire you," James assured him.

"I don't doubt it. Too bad you're not going to be in the position of hiring anyone any time soon."

James sighed and slouched further in his desk. "It's not fair," he repeated. "You've got as good grades as Sirius or me: better than just about everyone else in the class, and no one'll send _you_ job offers." Remus grinned at his friend's bluntness. "Well, it's true," James continued quietly. "It's pathetic. I'd give you any of mine, if I could."

Remus shook his head, still grinning nonetheless. "Thanks, Pr..."

"Mr. Lupin! Mr. Potter!"

"Sorry, Professor!"

* * *

"Cathy?" 

"Blue."

"Grey. Susan?"

"Yellow."

"Grey. Joanna?"

"Red."

"Pink. Michael?"

"Green."

"Me too! Er... Sam?"

"Yellow."

"Orange."

"Orange? Are you _joking_? 'Sam' is the yellowest name I have ever heard!"

Lexi rolled her brown eyes. "Orange," she stated firmly. "Sam is undeniably orange. Just listen to it: Sa-_am_."

"Sam is yellow," stated Lily firmly. "What do you think, Alice?"

Alice, who was using a book to support a letter that she was writing, did not look up as she said: "Yellow."

Lily let out a victorious "Ha!" and Lexi made a face. "If E were here, _she_ would agree with us," the dark haired girl said simply. "Where is she, anyway?"

"With _Rian_," replied Lily, trying not to roll her eyes and mostly succeeding. "I know, you're _shocked_, I can tell."

"Utterly," replied Lexi dryly. "It almost makes us wish Rian was a Gryffindor instead, so he could come in here. _Almost_. At least then we'd get a visit from E once every three months. We weren't this bothersome when we were going out with Frank, were we? Moderation, after all..." She idly threw a used piece of parchment in the Common Room fire.

"You were worse," Alice replied, half jokingly.

"Lexi is so abused," sighed the girl herself.

"Oh definitely," Lily remarked sarcastically. "But even still, E better hurry up 'cos she has a book I need."

"E has a book?" Lexi demanded in mock surprise.

Lily laughed and Alice asked: "What book?"

"I don't remember the title," said the Head Girl. "A spell book or something—it's got the outline of Language Spells that I need anyway, so she's gotta get it to me soon so I can read up."

Alice, finishing her letter and folding it up into an envelope, looked up, smiling. "You can finally do Language Spells, then?"

"Not until May—my birthday," admitted Lily sadly. "I have to be eighteen and all that, y'know, but since I'm sending my Ministry application next week I have to be prepared to do the spell when it's legal."

The other two nodded, and Alice picked up her Herbology book in an endeavor to start her homework. Lexi, on the other hand, picked up her partially consumed piece of toast from her plate on the end table next to her and bit it daintily. Then she set it down again (she'd been working on that very piece of toast for almost an hour) and said to Lily: "Why can't you do Language Spells 'till you've turned eighteen? You can apparate at seventeen, drink at seventeen, go into the Restricted Section of the library with half an excuse at seventeen... it's only fair, isn't it?"

"It's an old law, I suppose," Lily said with a shrug. "Eighteen used to be the age of adulthood, and some things just carried over."

"What's so dangerous about a Language Spell?" Alice wanted to know, scribbling a Herbology answer.

"All sorts of side effects when it's done wrong," Lily replied, managing to keep a tone of perfect nonchalance in her voice. "One bloke couldn't speak for the rest of his life... that's the trick, isn't it? Loads of the side effects are permanent."

"Well then _why_," Alice continued, "have you been studying all those languages all these years if you can just do a Language Spell the second your eighteen and learn them instantly?"

It was Lexi who answered the question, however: "Language Spells work more effectively for magical languages like mermish and troll and such."

"Troll?" Alice demanded. "Who would want to speak _Troll_?"

"Come May, _I_ will," Lily said cheerfully. "Pass me a cookie, won't you, Lex?" Lexi, shaking her head, passed one of the cookies from the plate on the coffee table near her to the overly cheery redhead.

"Look, there's Remus," Lily observed presently, seeing him quite without the other Marauders. "Hey, Remus! Come here! I haven't talked to you in about a year!"

"Or a class period, but whatever," said Remus, coming over despite. He sat on the loveseat next to Alice. "Why is she so... happy?" he asked, indicating to the redhead who was now humming a Robbie Grindelow song.

"Her eighteenth birthday," Alice replied succinctly.

Remus's eyes widened. "Oh shit! I _did not_ forget! I swear! I um... actually I already have a present, but I... er..."

"In May," Lexi finished.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"And I am never trusting you again, Remus Lupin!" said Lily in a singsong voice.

"She sang it; she meant it," Lexi told them sagely.

"However will I live?" wondered Remus wryly.

"In great pain and misery, of course," dismissed Lily. "Have you seen Eden?"

Remus shuddered. "_Yes, _unfortunately"

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Where?"

The Marauder made a face to her that seemed to suggest that she should understand something that he was apparently attempting to communicate. She shook her head. "Um... I have no idea what you're trying to tell me..."

"I _saw_ her," Remus stated very slowly with special emphasis that Lily still didn't comprehend.

"What he means," explained Alice, "is that he _saw_ her."

Lily shrugged. "I really have no idea what you idiots are talking about."

"_You _know," said Remus, looking immensely uncomfortable. "_Saw _her." Lily gave him a very blank stare. "_And _Rian," he added at last, with extreme reluctance.

Comprehension finally dawned. "_Ohhhh!_ You mean you _saw _them. Merlin, did you walk in on them or something? _Where?_" She was half laughing, but the other three looked at her with expressions that clearly said that they thought it was quite a serious situation.

"In a broom closet," muttered Remus, looking pained.

Lily laughed outright. "And what were you looking in broom closets for?"

"A _broom!_"

"There aren't brooms in _broom closets_, are there?" Lily asked, still laughing.

"You don't know?" asked Remus suggestively.

"If I had an errand in a broom closet, I really wouldn't be paying attention to my surroundings, would I?" retorted the redhead.

"That depends on how you plan to _use_ the surroun..." began the Marauder, but he was cut off quite abruptly by Lexi and Alice.

"Can we _please_ end this conversation?" they pleaded in unison, covering their respective ears.

"Yeah, I got to go anyway," Remus said, getting up.

"And desert us?" whined Lily, feeling extremely energetic.

"Yeah, I'm leaving tonight and... y'know... have to pack."

"Your Mum?" a sympathetic Alice inquired.

"Um... well, yeah..."

Lily sobered up. "Is she sick again?" she asked quietly.

Remus nodded and with a quick and distracted: "See you later," he turned and was intercepted by James, who muttered something to him before they exited the Common Room together. Alice looked piteously after them.

"Poor Remus," she said sadly. "His mother has terrible health."

Lily raised her eyebrows skeptically. "If that's what it really is," she murmured, more to herself than to her friends. Alice and Lexi heard her, however, and looked curiously up at the Head Girl.

"Would Remus lie?" Alice demanded, always the trusting one.

"Oh... no, 'course not," said Lily at once, most unconvincingly; "sorry, just thinking aloud. Not about that... y'know..."

Alice either believed her or did not feel like pursuing the issue and continued to attempt her Herbology homework. Lexi sent her a suspicious look to which Lily just made an "I'll tell you later" sort of expression. The dark haired girl shrugged and stood up. "We're going to go ask Paul for the Care of Magical Creatures What-ho."

"You mean homework?"

"Of course."

"Oooh," joked Lily. "Paul Montreal, eh?"

Lexi threw a couch cushion at her. "Only because you two prats aren't in Care of Magical Creatures."

"E is," Alice reminded her.

"E has taken up residence in a broom cupboard and I don't particularly want to see _that_ situation again, though admittedly last time I had the sense not to go poking around broom closets during free period. At least for me it was in a not-so-deserted deserted corridor."

"You mean you've walked in on them before?" gaped Lily.

Lexi raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Who _hasn't_?"

Lily raised her hand and looked over at Alice, who- blushing- had returned to her homework. "_You have_?" the redhead gasped at her friend. Alice nodded sadly. "Geez, I feel like a failure," Lily muttered.

"Don't," Lexi said dismissively. "Trust us_: don't_."

Lexi left to find Paul Montreal, but was replaced in a few minutes by Eden herself, who walked casually through the portrait whole and sat down on the coffee table in front of her friends (near the cookies). "Hey, guys. What goes on?"

"Where have you been?" Lily quizzed in a tone all too casual.

"With Rian," was the innocent answer.

"I see... needed cleaning supplies, did you?"

"What are you...? Oh! You talked to Remus, I suppose. Well it's all a lie- I have to say. Lies, all lies!" She waved her hands about dramatically and Lily raised her eyebrows. "I ran into him in the corridor just a moment ago. Rian and I weren't in a broom closet," Eden elaborated. "It was an empty classroom."

"Oh, I see."

"That's different!" said Alice.

"Completely," agreed Lily.

"Entirely respectable."

"And inconspicuous."

"Who would go in there?"

"Most definitely."

Eden rolled her eyes. "Sod off."

Lily looked over at Alice, who had at last forsaken all attempts at a constructive occupation. "Al," she said thoughtfully. "What color name do you think 'Eden' is?"

Alice paused. "Red," she said at last.

Lily shook her head. "Green."

* * *

"Oh shit, I'm late!" Alice looked disapprovingly at Lily, who apologized quickly to her friend before raising her hand high. Slughorn called on her. 

"Yes, Lily?"

"Professor, I forgot. I have a Career Advice meeting now..."

Slughorn nodded. "Is your potion finished?"

Lily looked critically into her cauldron. "I don't know... I mean, the directions say it is, but I think I should leave it on the higher heat for a few minutes longer..." Slughorn- a slight smile on his face- nodded.

"After six and a half years, I think I've learned to trust _your_ intuition, Miss Evans." Lily blushed slightly and noticed Severus Snape glowering and James Potter rolling his eyes. If the latter had been facing her, she would have stuck out her tongue or made a face (she was not in a very mature mood) at him, but he was already looking into his own cauldron, and anyway: Slughorn was still looking at _her._

"Er... thank you, Professor."

"Just have one of your friends cool the fire."

"Yes, sir." Lily sat down and now that the attention was off her, said to Eden: "In about five minutes could you take some of the heat off... a simple cooling spell should work... just cool it a little though. And then maybe two minutes after that, just take the cauldron off altogether—alright?"

"Yeah, alright," muttered Eden, who was in the middle of stirring her own potion counter-clockwise thirteen and a half times and did not seem keen on being distracted. Lily, however, had enough faith in her friend, and picked up her bag before exiting the classroom to murmurs of "_Lucky!_"

Glad to miss the end of class, but even gladder to miss the beginning of the next one (Herbology), Lily walked cheerfully to the Transfiguration department. She didn't mind that she was late, because the later she arrived, the later they started, the later they ended and the later she got to Herbology.

"Sit down, Miss Evans," said Professor McGonagall when Lily entered the Deputy Headmistress's office. Lily took the indicated seat and looked at the Professor before her, who was pulling out a file that the redhead could only assume to be her own from a large stack of them on the desk. "Oh yes, I remember," murmured the Transfiguration teacher, reading through a paper, more to herself than to Lily. "_You're_ the one who speaks all the languages..."

"Yes, but you can call me 'Lily' for short."

Professor McGonagall looked up at the Head Girl, and though she tried to look more or less expressionless, the ends of her mouth were twitching slightly. Lily, smiling slightly, looked away and muttered an embarrassed: "Sorry."

"Yes, well, moving on..." continued McGonagall. "I understand it was your interest to enter the Ministry."

"Well... yeah, I guess."

McGonagall looked up, eyes intent on Lily. "You guess?"

"I know?"

"Well don't be so sure of it, Miss Evans. "

"Okay, I'll try not to be."

"Do you want to enter the Ministry or not?"

"Yes."

"You're certain?"

"Yes."

"And I suppose by studying to the point where you're tri-lingual, you mean to enter International Cooperation or Law Enforcement or the like."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to send in an application for both, but IC was what I was hoping for."

"Well," said McGonagall. "if it's International Cooperation you're interested in, you're almost completely set. You're taking the classes necessary to join the Ministry, and the extra languages certainly make your application look even better. If you want letters of recommendation, I know that I, along with Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn _at least_, would be glad to oblige."

Lily nodded her gratitude.

"Of course, you'll have to start studying your Language Spells. You're not eighteen yet?" McGonagall checked the file once more.

"Yeah, but I've been reading up on the Language Spells and I turn eighteen in..."

"May. Excellent, excellent. I'll speak to Professor Flitwick; I'm sure he'd be glad to instruct you."

Lily nodded again, though in reality, another extra task was probably the last thing she needed. "Thanks."

"Also, I should warn you, Miss Evans," McGonagall continued. "It is extremely difficult to enter the Ministry immediately after finishing your schooling. It's highly competitive, you know. You will have to receive top marks on your N.E.W.T.s. In fact, the only one I would think you could afford to do merely average on would be..." she checked something in Lily's file: "Ancient Runes."

"Well that's lucky; I'm awful at it," was Lily's only reply.

Again, McGonagall looked tempted to smile. "However, if you continue your excellent work in Charms, Potions, your language studies, the language spells, Herbology, and- though you might want to work a little harder in it- Transfiguration, I cannot think of a reason why the Ministry would not seriously consider your application. At least."

"Thank-you, Professor."

"When do you plan on sending it in? The application, I mean."

"Hopefully by the end of the week, so if you could write a letter of recommendation, it would be..."

"Yes, yes. And I'll speak to your other Professors as well."

"Thank-you, Professor."

"Quite, Miss Evans. You'll get an answer from them once your N.E.W.T. scores have been given."

"Alright."

Professor McGonagall put Lily's file down, but did not dismiss the Head Girl just yet. "Miss Evans," she said and she sounded now as if what she was about to say would be a little awkward. "Miss Evans, it has been a matter of... curiosity... primarily to the Professor Dumbledore, whether or not you... well, you remember anything."

Lily honestly did not have the slightest idea what her professor was asking, but she decided to respond in the most intelligent way that the situation allowed. "Uh... _what_?"

"From September," pressed McGonagall, a little impatiently. "Do you remember anything regarding the forest and what happened there?"

The strangeness of the question struck Lily quite potently. Of course she hadn't. "Professor," began the Head Girl uncertainly; "if I _did_ remember anything, I would tell Professor Dumbledore immediately, believe me."

McGonagall nodded. "Of course," was all she said.

Lily stood and was about to leave, when the McGonagall's voice called her once more. "Oh, Miss Evans, there was one more thing I wanted to discuss with you."

Lily turned. "Yes, Professor?"

"It's my understanding that Mr. Potter missed the Head meeting on Saturday."

Lily did not know how McGonagall had known this, but she was beginning to suspect that the Transfiguration teacher was as omniscient as Dumbledore. "What? Well... er... yeah, I guess he did."

"Why was that?"

As far as Lily knew, it was because James had not felt like being in the same room for an hour with the Head Girl, but she did not think that would go over well with the Professor, so she thought it best to cover up for him. After all, she couldn't _really_ be omniscient, could she?

"I guess... I guess he just blanked, y'know. I mean, he's got a lot on his mind, hasn't he? He's Quidditch Captain _and _Head Boy, and with N.E.W.T.s and all the applications to fill out..."

"_You_ have managed," McGonagall pointed out sternly.

Lily grinned a little cheekily. "I'm not Quidditch Captain, am I?"

McGonagall paused for a moment thoughtfully, then said: "Very well. I'll take into consideration your defense of him, but I must take ten points from Gryffindor for his absence, and I will be speaking to him later..." McGonagall hesitated, almost smiling again. "Unless you would rather?"

"Oh no, Professor, that's _really_ not a good idea. I'm sure you'd do much better."

McGonagall nodded, having probably expected the answer. "As you wish, Miss Evans. You may leave. Have a pleasant morning."

Lily resisted the urge to comment on the unlikelihood of that event owing to the imminent Herbology class, but nodded and said: "You as well, Professor," instead. She turned and left the classroom, and after that walked very slowly down the corridor.

She stopped by a window and looked out at the grounds. The snow was melting and bits of green grass were visible here and there. The lake still looked frozen, but Lily wouldn't have gone skating on it at this point. It looked as if spring was arriving a little early, for it was only late February.

And- Lord help her- had she just defended James?

Lily turned away from the window and put her hands in her pockets, because the corridors were extremely drafty this time of year. Shrugging her shoulder so that her school bag wouldn't slip off, the redhead grew very thoughtful. There was one person who was bothering her more than anyone else, and she couldn't make the excuse that it was James. It was Lily that was the problem. James Potter- for once in his life- was more or less innocent. _More or less_.

And speak of the devil...

The Head Boy was visible emerging from the stair into the corridor, and Lily stopped walking, so surprised that the subject of thought had materialized. "James," she said, still surprised, as he came closer. He did not reply, but walked passed her altogether. Lily withdrew her hands from her pockets and folded her arms, shifting her weight.

Their backs were to each other but Lily-remembering that he had been scheduled to have his meeting directly after hers- knew he was still in the corridor. She did not turn as she called loudly after him: "Well you don't have to be so bloody immature about everything, James!"

She waited a moment (honestly about a minute and a half) but he didn't say anything or turn back to start an argument with her, so the Head Girl was forced to sigh and continue down the corridor.

"Once again," she breathed to no one in particular, "Lily Evans displays her exceptional ability to blame everyone but herself."

* * *

"Is _that_ him?" 

"No, that's another bodyguard."

"What about _him_?"

"No... that's a reporter."

"What about...?"

"No, no... he hasn't arrived yet..."

James could not remember a time when the Great Hall had been so noisy, _including _the time he and his fellow Marauders had levitated the five tables twenty feet off the ground. Everyone was conversing as loudly and quickly as possible with each other about the wizard who would, at any moment, enter the Hall.

"Is that him?" Redival asked him, tugging on her boyfriend's arm. James looked where she was pointing and shook his head.

"That's Praedam, Redival..." he said, grinning.

Redival squinted and saw that he was right. "Right, I see... Oh stop laughing! I couldn't see him properly!" she blushed and kissed James on the cheek, before resuming her search for the anticipated guest.

The Minister of Magic was coming to Hogwarts, as had been rumored about and finally confirmed back in January. He was scheduled most generously by The Powers That Be, two hours of the school's time, which meant the entire Friday afternoon off. The vast majority of Hogwarts' youth was currently crammed into a section of the Entrance Hall where at any moment The Minister would make his appearance. Whether one favored his politics or not, there was something thrilling about his coming.

"Of course, my Dad is a personal friend of his," Redival told her boyfriend, with whom she was arm in arm. "But I don't know many of his various acquaintances."

James supposed this was supposed to impress him, but found it somehow failed. Perhaps this was because his own father was in all likelihood equally, if not more, "important" than Redival's.

Hmmmm... well that was an improvement. His chest didn't ache and he didn't wince at the very thought of his dad. Maybe the next time Peter tried and failed to be sympathetic, he wouldn't bite the poor bloke's head off.

"Now I'm _sure_ that's him!" exclaimed Redival, forcing James to pay some degree of attention. A wizard had entered, tall and thin and looking to be in his late sixties, dressed in elegant black robes, and surrounded by tough-looking wizards that screamed security. James had to agree with his girlfriend.

"Yeah, that's him. He. Whatever."

"I don't see what all the security is about," Redival complained, who was having a difficult seeing the guest. "It's not as if one of _us_ is going to attack him." James eyed Severus Snape and Professor Silth a bit warily but said nothing.

The Minister, however, seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Redival, and James could just make out the wizard shaking his head at his security and moving into the crowd of students. He shook their hands and nodded, introduced himself to each of them, and the Head Boy did not know how, after all these introductions, the man would be able to give them a speech.

The visitor came near where James and his girlfriend were standing, and after having shaken Redival's hand, he turned to James himself. He paused, and said (loudly, over the noise of the room): "Do I know you from somewhere?"

James was fairly used to this, because growing up Potter did mean some things. It never ceased to surprise him how many people could recognize him as his father's son. They _were_ said to resemble each other something amazing, though.

"James Potter, sir," said the Head Boy respectfully, shaking the Minister's hand.

"David Potter's son?"

James nodded. "Yes, yes. You're father's a fine man..."

Harkiss patted his shoulder briefly, before moving on through the crowd. Redival raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him; "Someone's important," she observed, a slight smile gracing her pretty features. James gave no reply.

Nearly ten minutes had passed before The Minister was finally freed of his PR obligations, and he made his way into the Great Hall, followed by strictly guided students. Harkiss was steered by his security and Professors Dumbledore and Harkiss to the front of the Hall where a small stage of sorts had been set up for him.

He stepped into the center of the stage, onto a crimson red carpet, as the school staff took seats behind him, Dumbledore in the large chair he usually sat in at mealtimes. One of Harkiss's security wizards stepped forward, holding a wand out in front of him as if it was a sword with which he was about to knight someone. Harkiss took the wand and pointed it at his throat, which was, admittedly, at first a bit of a startling sight, before the Minister said in a loud, clear tone: "Sonoros." The next words he spoke, therefore, were spoken ten times louder.

"Students of Hogwarts, distinguished staff, and, of course, my dear Professor Dumbledore," he began; "I am most thankful for your gracious reception of me. It has been years since I've had the pleasure of visiting this school, and I must say I've missed it. One never does forget Hogwarts..." His voice momentarily seemed distant and reminiscent.

'_Nicely played,'_ thought James cynically. He glanced around the room at the other students, who were mostly watching with rapt interest as the Minister's speech commenced. Even those who knew little or nothing of politics found it fascinating; he _was_ the Minister of Magic, after all.

A conspicuous bit of red caught James's roaming eye, and he noticed Lily Evans standing a short distance away. She was with Eddie Bones and Eden, but she, unlike just about everyone else in the room, was not looking intently up at the Minister. She was staring into space, deep in some reverie that seemed completely unrelated to everyone else's present occupation.

James regarded her for a moment.

Her face was serious and maybe even a little lamenting, but that might simply have been because she was so deep in thought. Somehow, though, James didn't think that was the case. There was a definite shadow in her eyes. He wondered what was bothering her, and even toyed with the idea that it was his unrestrained slights to her. This was, of course, ridiculous, the Head Boy knew, but it was an interesting idea.

It was probably, on James's further consideration, her break up that was bothering the redhead. Yeah, he knew all about that by now. Nothing staid secret long at Hogwarts, and though Lily hadn't exactly sent out fliers announcing the news, she _had_ told her closest friends, and after that, any chance of secrecy was more or less shot. Unless it was absolutely specified to Eden, there was _no_ chance she would keep her mouth shut about something like a break up. Lily was single, and, after many years of observance, James had discovered that recently singled girls thought of little else than either their new status or their ex.

Elijah Trent?

James mentally scoffed. Trent really wasn't worth a moment of anyone's time... the girl ought to have been congratulating herself on losing the bloke, not mourning it.

Not that the Head Boy even knew that that was what was going through her head, but it seemed plausible, and it allowed him to be annoyed at Evans, which was as good an excuse to suspect it as any.

Suddenly, everyone was clapping and James was brought back to the moment with a harsh jerk. He looked away quickly, realizing he had been staring (somewhat) at Lily. Furthermore, he'd been contemplating what she was thinking about, which was worse yet. James looked back at the Minister, who was still speaking.

He did his best to pay attention. The Minster's entire speech seemed to be directed more towards Dumbledore than the students—as if he was trying to prove a point to the Headmaster by simply being there. At a moment when Harkiss made some particularly obvious demonstration of this, James glanced over at The Head Girl, perhaps subconsciously to gauge her reaction. A slight smile played on her lips.

James swore. He looked at his girlfriend standing next to him. She looked nothing more or less than impressed by the display.

James swore again.

Not that the reactions meant anything. Nothing at all...

_OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO_

_Note: _Voi la! Chapter 17, at your service. I had a _really_ hard time writing the last page or so. I wrote the whole thing sans that part in nine days, but once I got there I was just dead.

Logged in reviewers have your review responses; many cookies to the anonymouses: **Tasz** (you're so sweet! Thank you _so_ much for continually R&Ring!), **Dhamyanthi **(in addition to having a really cool name, you left a simply gorgeous review- thank you so much!), **sky4444** (wow), **GLP** (simply amazing. Would you like some chocolate-covered chocolate chip cookies? They're sublime), and, of course, **Karen** (the update, at _your_ request, Gorgeous).

I'm super excited about Chapter 18. I wrote a huge chunk of it while I was debating this one, but it's **so **plot-packed that it may take a little while for the update. However, with you lovely readers beating me over the head, I shall do my best to provide it quickly. As of now, it's titled: "The Recollections of Lily Evans." Love to reviewers!

Cheers,  
Jewels


	18. The Recollections of Lily Evans

_NftC_: I have had requests for more James. Alright then. Sure. Actually, I can definitely see where you're coming from, because there is a lot of Lily-centricity in this. But, as a reward for the sweet people reviewing (whom I love excessively), I went out of my way to make sure there was more James in this chapter than originally written.

_History_: I don't own Harry Potter, but neither do you, so don't gloat :-P

_Recap_: (Chapter 5): certain memories from the forest are missing from the Head students' consciousness, and Dumbledore can do nothing to regain them. (Chapter 16): Lily shuns James's attempts at friendliness, and James, offended, decides he doesn't want anything to do with her. Lily's "apologies" (such as they are) go unheard, as the seventh year group worries about the future.

And many thank, once more, to both Karen and Rubber Ducky, for guilt tripping me and forcing updates. Much Love :-P

**Chapter 18- "The Recollections of Lily Evans"  
**"_Life is a long lesson in humility." _-J.M. Barrie

She _really_ did not want to go to Herbology today.

"I _really_ do not want to go to Herbology today."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "You said that already."

"Four times," reminded Eddie Bones.

"At least," agreed Paul Montreal.

"Well, I meant it," Lily defended herself. "I have this bad feeling about it."

"Mmmm... Do you suppose it's that feeling you get right before you go to Herbology every time?" suggested Lexi. "That's normal, Lily, don't worry."

"Possibly," was Lily's vague reply, for she wasn't really listening. You had to have a certain amount of either tranquility or determination to survive a whole Herbology lesson with Professor Adelaide "The Student Slayer" Grossman, and today, Lily had neither. In fact, she was pretty sure that at any moment, she would simply collapse in the corridor down which she was walking with her three fellow seventh years.

She was, simply put, exhausted.

And she had the most unusual headache.

Somehow, it felt as if the pain was coming from deeper inside her head. And the pain itself? It made her feel as though her head would explode at any moment, and she was beginning to wish it would, if only the aching would stop.

Lexi noticed Lily massaging her head. "If it hurts that badly," she said, "Why don't you just go to the Hospital Wing and get a headache potion?"

"'Cos Grossman will have my blood if I'm late. Alright, alright, I'm okay. It's... er... going away."

"'Ello, Girl." Eden had arrived, and she slung her arm around Lily's shoulders.

"Or maybe it's not..."

"What's the matter? You look like Hell, Red. Hey, Lex... Eddie... Twenty-Two. Off to Herbology, are we? Did anyone get the answer to number six? I'm starving; all I had for breakfast was a goblet of pumpkin juice. Where's Al-lice anyway?" The blonde said all this very quickly and it took a moment for everyone else to catch up.

They arrived on the stair that brought them to the Entrance Hall.

"I have a headache," Lily told her friend.

"Hey, E," said Paul.

"Hi, E," said Eddie.

"Greetings," said Lexi.

"I don't have Herbology till after lunch," Eddie continued.

"The answer to number six is 1932..." this from Lexi.

"And we have no idea where Alice is," finished Paul. He looked at the others. "Do we?"

"No."

"Well there you go."

Eden made a face at them, then looked at Lily piteously. "Poor, Lilith," she said. "If you want some, I have headache tablets in my book bag."

"No you don't. I nicked 'em this morning."

"Didn't help?"

"Nope. Oh Merlin... there is no way I can sit through Herbology..."

Eden hugged Lily sadly. "Poor Lilith," she repeated.

"Poor Lily, indeed," agreed Eddie. "But I have to go. I, unfortunate as it is, have a free period now."

"You can take my place and I'll have your free period," Paul offered generously.

"Nah, I'm okay, come to think of it. Red, if you decide to ditch, find me in the library. Any excuse not to study for N.E.W.T.s is a good one, right?"

"Yeah, okay."

Eddie departed, and the Gryffindors exited the castle through the great doors leading out of the Entrance Hall. By the time they arrived at the greenhouses, Lexi and Paul were in deep conversation and Lily had consumed two more of Eden's headache tablets.

"Why don't you just go to the Hospital Wing, Gorgeous?" asked the blonde as they entered.

"'Cos I already missed an Herbology class in the last month and Grossman's a bitch and we're supposed to go over important N.E.W.T. stuff."

"I'd take notes for you."

"You never take notes, and when you do, they're terrible."

"Beggars can't be choosers."

"Thus the fact that I'm going to class."

They took seats along the table and Lily rested her face in her hands. The redhead heard Rachel Brossle's cheerful greeting to Eden and also her request to sit next to the blonde, who answered with a stiff "Alright, then." Rachel presumably took the seat, which would mean that Sirius would be sitting next to her, which meant James would be sitting next to him—three seats away from Lily.

Lily looked up and saw that this was, in fact, true, and also that he was talking with Frank Longbottom, who was sitting across from him. The Head Girl sighed irritably and resumed massaging her forehead, waiting for class to begin.

Grossman arrived a little late (she almost always was) and told the already seated class to be seated. No one was quite sure how to react.

"You will be working in the N.E.W.T. prep pamphlets today," the professor informed them, pulling said pamphlets out of her leather case and picking on a skinny Slytherin boy to distribute them. Everyone groaned. "And you will do so silently." Everyone sighed. "Excuse me, I didn't quite hear your answer...?"

"Yes, Professor Grossman."

"Very good. Begin on my mark." Everyone had his or her pamphlets, quills, and ink ready, so Grossman, checking her wristwatch, which was a little tight on her wrist, said: "Begin!"

And everyone began.

Except the Marauders.

James, Sirius, and Remus (who was across from Sirius) where whispering fervently about something, and Peter (who was next to James) was smirking about it. Lily tried to concentrate on her Prep Pamphlet.

_1. Highlight the main usage for the Veritus Root._

_'Easy,'_ thought Lily, dipping her quill in the inkwell. _'You use it in a... a... a...'_ She was getting distracted. The whispers of the Marauder seemed like shouts, and the aching in her head caused her mind to scream in pain.

_A- Chopped for Veritaserum  
B- Boiled and mashed for a Acclarolomen Potion  
C- Steamed for communication with The Beyond (i.e. Divination)  
D- All of the above  
E- None of the above_

Lily read the options again and again, but could not focus.

"Think, Lily, think," she whispered to herself.

"Moony, you've got the Bouncers...?" came the whisper of a Marauder, cutting into her head like a knife.

_...Chopped for Veritaserum... no, it was used in an Acclarolomen Potion..._

"Okay, when I count three..."

_...B, the answer was B..._

The quill scratched loudly on the parchment as Lily filled in the circle for 'B.'

"One..."

That was James's voice... what were the Marauders doing?

'_Concentrate, Lily_.'

"Two...'

_'Okay, number two. "Which are three uses for Mandrake...?_"

"Three!"

Lily looked up, as did everyone else, as a loud crashing sounded from the tables of plants along the perimeter of the room. Looking around, the redhead saw a small, smooth ball, about the size of a walnut and the color of Dumbledore's favorite purple robes, bouncing uncontrollably about the shelves that stored several plants the class used on various occasions.

It was breaking pot after pot, bouncing off the roof and floor, than back to the shelf tops, and Lily spotted two or three more, varying in color but not in size, doing the same. She turned around on her stool and noticed one bouncing just behind her. As if the world was moving in slow motion, she saw it (a red one) bouncing animatedly towards a large pot that held a plant she could not remember the name of. Also in the pot, keeping the plant erect, were a hundred or so small stones.

Lily tried to reach out to stop the "Bouncer" from hitting the pot, for the stones would go flying, but before she was even out of her seat, the small scarlet ball had hit the pot, and the stones went soaring through the air in all directions.

The redhead ducked out of the way, but in doing so, slid off her stool.

Her head hit the ground hard, searing in even more pain, and for a moment, the room quieted: the shouts became distant and the crashing of the "Bouncers" was barely more than a whisper. And then, with one last jet of pain in her head, the world went dark...

* * *

_She was wet, cold, tired, and her feet hurt. And she was terrified._

_She glanced down at her feet, which were running with more speed than she knew she possessed. They stepped on all sorts of things, but the pain was dulled slightly by the fact that she was so numb, either from fear or cold. She had no shoes and her socks were soaked and dirty._

_No shoes._

_Where were her shoes?_

_She remembered now—she'd taken them off on the platform. _

_They stopped running and as she approached the figure in front of her, pain seared through her feet and she sat down on a mossy rock. Her socks were bleeding, she saw now; or rather, her feet were bleeding through the socks._

_Her feet were cut, and she swore under her breath. _

_"Where are your shoes?" asked a voice, and she looked up. James Potter was looking at her with curiosity and possible anxiety..._

"Look, she's waking up, now," said a distant voice from somewhere above her.

The world slowly came into view in the form of many dark figures moving, and Lily shut her eyes again, very tightly. Her head still ached. She opened her eyes again and saw more clearly. Madame Pomfrey was standing over her, a thoughtful expression on her face as she looked down at the Head Girl.

As things came into better focus, Lily sat up very quickly and looked around to find herself in the Hospital Wing. With Madame Pomfrey were Eden and Alice, looking at her anxiously.

"How are you?" asked Alice quickly, causing Lily to wince in the pain that the noise caused her head.

"The worst I've been in a while. How are you?" replied the redhead.

"I suggest," said Madame Pomfrey, her tone quieter, "that if you must speak, you speak in whispers. It will be less agonizing for her."

"What happened?" winced Lily.

"You passed out," muttered Eden. "I think one of the Marauders' Bouncers hit the Accrescere Weed's pot and you got hit with a rock or something..."

Lily began to remember. "No, I tried to duck so I wouldn't get hit but I fell of the stool or something. Another graceful moments, courtesy your very own Head Girl."

Alice smiled warmly. "Well you've got some bumps on your head so we reckon some rocks hit you while you were down, then. Madame Pomfrey says that wasn't the only thing wrong with you, though. She said something about the headaches you've been getting..." All three girls looked expectantly at Madame Pomfrey, who shook her head sternly.

"No, no," said the nurse ('_A little louder than necessary,'_ thought Lily)."Miss Dearborn and Miss Prewett... you've staid long enough. She's conscious now, and the agreement only lasted until she woke up."

"Aww, c'mon..."

"Miss Dearborn, _please!"_ Madame Pomfrey glanced Lily, who had covered her face due to the pain caused by Eden's exclamation.

"Oh, all right," sighed the blonde. "C'mon... oh, but, Red, you should know: Lex was here too but she had to leave to tell McGonagall why we missed two and a half classes." And with that final bit of news, both of her friends left the Hospital Wing.

"Take this," said Madame Pomfrey, once they were alone. She handed Lily a potion, which she drank without questioning. It burned her throat a little and tasted like a mixture between vinegar and black licorice, but she drank the whole serving without spitting any out.

When she'd finished, the redhead gasped: "Is it for my head?"

The nurse nodded simply. "Miss Evans," she asked presently; "Do you know what might be the cause of the headaches?"

Lily thought for a moment. She'd remembered. She'd remembered what had happened in the forest, or at least, a very small part of it. It was possible that that- the return of the memories that had been blocked by such powerful magic- had caused the headache. Yet Lily was hesitant to say this aloud to the nurse. For one thing, it sounded strange. For another, she wasn't sure it was true. And finally, she didn't know how much Madame Pomfrey knew of what had happened to her and did not want to be the one who breached security. Dumbledore had said to tell _no one_ after all, and Madame Pomfrey _was_someone.

"Um... the flu?" Lily finally suggested lamely.

Madame Pomfrey raised an eyebrow. "I doubt it. You are not showing other symptoms."

"No, I suppose not."

"In any case, I want you to stay here until the headaches subside—I don't know how much good that potion will do. Try to sleep, and I will keep it as dark and quiet as possible."

Lily nodded and lay back again, shutting her eyes. All she wanted to do was sleep. She hadn't done much of it over the last few weeks, what with studying and homework and just the general reluctance to go to bed that was natural in most seventeen-year-olds. And God, her head hurt.

_

* * *

_

_Crack._

_"Who knows what's in this forest? We should get out of here," she said. She looked down at her bleeding feet and saw that that was not much of a possibility._

"_Here." James was speaking, and he threw a wand to her. She glanced at it. It wasn't her own, and it wasn't familiar._

_A curious thought crossed her mind. "You're not giving me _your_ wand, are you?" she asked slowly._

_"No," said James. He pulled out his own as if to demonstrate, and she was perplexed. "I picked it up off a death eater when I knocked him out," James explained with a shrug. She nodded with feigned understanding. She looked down at her feet and hesitated; was it really wise to use this wand?_

"_What is it?" demanded James._

"_I... it's just..." she stammered, "The wand won't work as well, since I'm not the owner."_

"_It's just a simple healing charm," said James, but- for some reason unbeknownst to her- he didn't sound aggravated. "The cuts aren't too deep... hopefully..." James continued slowly. She pulled her socks off, and James lit his wand too see her foot. "Okay, screw the last comment." James sighed. "Knox!" he said, which put the light out at the end of his wand, before he pointed the wand at her feet and added with authority in his voice: "Sana!"_

_The bleeding stopped on the cuts and they began to scab over. They did not vanish completely however, and she saw that James looked disappointed. She used the wand that she held to clean her socks and she slipped them on. It still hurt when she stood, but her feet didn't ache as much..._

Lily sat up abruptly. She looked around. The Hospital Wing was dark and her head did not hurt as much as it had. It was late, and she did not have to glance at the clock on the wall to know it. She was the only one in the room. With a sigh, the Head Girl turned and found her bottle of medicine on the nightstand next to her cot. She poured the dosage she'd been given earlier into a goblet and gulped it bravely.

Then, she lay back down, but did not fall asleep.

It was good that she was remembering things, right? But why? Had the spell been faulty, or was this always the case? Had she done something to trigger it, like before when she remembered the bit about Harrighagen?

"_Fly... and fly fast..._" James voice echoed in her head as if he'd shouted it to her in an empty Quidditch stadium.

With determination, Lily shut her eyes and thought carefully. In her mind's eye, she could see herself climbing out of the lake. She could see James a few feet away from her. She could see the world as she turned around and noticed Peter climbing out of the lake. She concentrated on how Peter looked. He was wet, like he ought to be.

A stab of pain bolted through her head, but the redhead did not stop. Peter was soaked through and through from the lake. She was wearing a red and gold tie, like every other tie she possessed. The trees remained in the same place... she could almost see the unmarked path they'd taken. She remembered certain places... she remembered the rock she sat on. She remembered James conjuring a funnily shaped water goblet for Peter.

As she lay down again, Lily felt more secure than she remembered feeling in a while. There was something so right about having things accounted for. Then, another thought struck her. Things weren't entirely accounted for yet. Someone had done this to her, and until she could remember that... until she could remember who managed to get into her dormitory and change her memories on the night after this happened, she would not have everything.

The feelings of security were gone shortly after, and Lily lay, miserable again, in the bed. She fell asleep about an hour later, but her dreams were all filled with bits of the forest.

A log she'd nearly tripped over here... a bit of the Death Eater's conversation that she'd overheard there... nothing new.

She woke up late the next morning and told Madame Pomfrey that her headache had _entirely_ subsided (which was not _entirely_ true), but the nurse insisted she stay for a few more hours. In the end, Lily was glad that she did, for the headache returned around four o'clock with such force that Lily welcomed the sleeping potion she was offered.

Her sleep was long and deep, but again, not untroubled.

On the third day, when she was roused once more around ten, Lily's headaches were mostly gone and Madame Pomfrey promised her (after much begging) that if she finished the day in the Hospital Wing without a single pain in her head, she could leave after dinner. With this vague hope, Lily waited patiently (or impatiently) for a bit, trying unsuccessfully to clear her mind of all thought.

At eleven, the Head Girl had a visitor, and she had to admit that it was the last person she expected.

"Potter?"

James had entered the Hospital Wing and muttered something to Madame Pomfrey who nodded curtly and returned to her office. The Head Boy made his way over towards Lily's bed, looking as if he didn't quite know what he was doing there.

Lily didn't know either. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a conscious attempt to keep hostility out of her voice.

"I brought your homework," grunted James, pulling some books, parchment, quills, and ink out of his book bag and setting it on the foot of the bed.

"You brought my homework," repeated Lily, bewildered.

"McGonagall _requested _it." His tone was bitter enough, and things were beginning to make sense.

"Should've guessed," Lily said with a nod. Her insides gave an uncomfortable twinge.

"Oh, and I have to apologize too," James continued. For a moment, Lily forgot why McGonagall of all people would force him to apologize to _her_, and her face evidently displayed some of her confusion, because the Head Boy felt it necessary to clarify: "For letting the Bouncers loose."

"Oh, right. The Bouncers. Yeah, it's fine. Forgiven. Whatever." She looked away in a distracted manner and took a quick drink of water from the bottle on the bedside table.

"I haven't apologized yet," pointed out James coolly.

"Well don't bother then," snapped back Lily, a little annoyed. "I already forgave you."

James said nothing, but looked at her a little oddly for a moment. She stared back defiantly, not wanting to be the first one to flinch away. "Why do you always do that?" he demanded at length.

"Do what? I don't do anything. What are you talking about?"

"_That_. Why do you always do _that_?"

"I'm not doing anything!"

"Yeah, yeah, you are."

"I am not!"

"Yes. You. Are. You get all defensive and... well... defensive!"

"Your marvelous articulation astounds me, as usual."

"There!" said James, so loudly that a jab of pain shot through Lily's head at the sound of it. "See, that's it," he continued, with only a little less intensity, moving closer and point and accusatory finger at her. "See, you do _that_. You get all defensive over nothing, and then you try to bring _me_ to blame and then... it's just..." He struggled for words. "Why do you do that?"

"I have no idea wha..."

"What I'm talking about, yeah, yeah." James rolled his eyes and the intensity that had simply radiated from him moments before died quickly. For one reason or another, Lily was disappointed to see it go. He smirked bitterly and shook his head. "Never mind it," he continued, stepping back and running a distracted hand through his already untidy hair. "Why do I even bother?" He turned his back and retreated out of the Hospital Wing, calling as he left: "Feel better..."

Lily took another drink of the cool clear water. Her head was hurting again. She would have to lie if she wanted to get out of there any time soon.

_

* * *

_

The second Sunday of April dawned late for the majority of Gryffindor students—at least, for those who paid _any_ attention whatsoever to the inter-house Quidditch Cup. James, who not only paid some attention, but actually paid a nearly obsessive amount of attention to the Quidditch tournament, woke especially late. The day before had been witness to the Hufflepuff/Slytherin Quidditch match, which would determine whether or not Hufflepuff or Gryffindor would play for the Cup. Hufflepuff had lost, bringing their record to 1 and 2, and knocking them out of the running. In the words of Sirius Black: "Gryffindors for the damn bloody cup!" Sirius had been slightly intoxicated at the Gryffindor celebration party.

"It's ironic," observed Remus on Sunday morning, as he and his fellow Marauders reclined in various spots about their dormitory; "we had a celebration party because _Slytherin_ won..."

"No, no, no," corrected James, who was one of the two Marauders that was _not_ hung-over; "we were celebrating that _Hufflepuff lost_."

Remus grinned; "Oh, okay," he said, as Sirius let out an audible grown.

"Remind me never to get drunk again," he complained to his companions.

"Never get drunk again," deadpanned James and Remus in unison.

"No, no. Remind me at the next party..."

"You won't listen to us then, Padfoot," Remus pointed out coolly. "C'mon... let's get something to make you functional again."

Sirius nodded, massaging his forehead and keeping his eyes shut tight.

"Do you want to see Slughorn or the house elves?" Remus questioned as he stood and crossed the room; he pulled his friend up from where he was (sort of) sitting, leaning against one of the dormitory beds. Sirius just groaned in reply, which Remus took to mean "I don't care."

"We better make it Slughorn," James said thoughtfully; "He's usually better for hangovers if he's in a good mood, and he'll be in a good mood since Slytherin won."

"Unless _he's_ been at the scotch," Remus muttered, almost shuddering. "Where'd Peter go?"

James located Peter, who had fallen back asleep, on the floor space between Frank Longbottom's bed and the wardrobe. With the assistance of his wand and a conjured glass of water, James woke the fourth Marauder with relative rapidity. The four then made their way down to the Common Room and, eventually, to Slughorn's office, with the hope for something that could rescue the day from certain doom.

Slughorn was, fortunately, not suffering from the affliction that plagued Sirius and Peter, and provided the Marauders, who were, after all, four of his favorite students, with the necessary potions. Of course, they weren't _really_ potions, but concoctions of Slughorn's invention that worked somewhat miraculously. Not knowing the materials put into said concoctions made it impossible for the Marauders to steal or brew them, but they didn't really mind having to ask, for the Potions master was usually discreet.

The day, being thoroughly rescued, commenced, and around one thirty Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs made their way to lunch in the Great Hall. Sirius slid onto the bench at the Gryffindor table on an empty seat next to Paul Montreal, and the fourth year girl that had been sitting next to him slid out of the way for the other Marauders.

"Er... thanks," James muttered awkwardly to the girl, who blushed, looked away, and nodded in the general direction of her potato salad.

"Geez, make the girl nervous, why don't you?" murmured Remus jokingly in his ear.

"I was just trying to be polite!" defended James, glancing at the still blushing girl.

Sirius laughed. "See, that's why I never bother. Pass the bread rolls, please, Worms." Peter complied, and after thanking him, Sirius leaned over and said to James: "So what's the schedule for today?"

"We've got Quidditch at three."

"We do? When did that happen? It's not on the schedule."

"We don't have a schedule, Padfoot."

"Which is only supporting my case that tonight's practice is not on it."

"Er... alright, then."

"Okay, so Quidditch from three till...?" He trailed off inquiringly. James did not reply, so Sirius continued: "Three till _when_, Prongs?"

"Three till whenever you idiots learn to play Quidditch properly."

"Are you sure you didn't get drunk last night?"

"I'd like to think I can hold my liquor better than _one_ shot of Firewhiskey."

"There was Firewhiskey?" demanded Peter. "Why the hell didn't I get any of that?"

"Because nobody likes you. Be quiet, Worms."

Peter mumbled something that no one really heard about having to get drunk on "the soft stuff," but, well, no one really heard.

"Anyway," continued Sirius; "Where we? Right. Quidditch. Hey, Twenty-Two..." The Marauder turned to Paul, who was in conversation with Lexi Shaw, but turned his notice to Sirius at the address. "We've got Quidditch today."

"Yeah, I know. Three o'clock, right?"

Sirius looked over at James again, who was beginning his sandwich. "You told Twenty-Two but not me? Hey, Lexi. Did you know about Quidditch?"

Lexi nodded briefly before continuing her conversation with Paul. Again, Sirius turned to James, who merely shrugged. "You were hung over," he pointed out. "How was I supposed to tell you we had Quidditch if you were going to jinx me into next Thursday. Pass the Pumpkin Juice, please."

Sirius grudgingly passed the pumpkin juice to his friend and continued. "Well what time is Quidditch _tomorrow_? And it better not be too late, 'cause Rachel will slaughter me if I can't do homework with her _again_ tomorrow night."

"Sorry," said James with a shrug, once he'd swallowed a bite of his sandwich. "I couldn't get the pitch till six... the Slytherin team managed to book it earlier."

"Ah shit."

"Yeah, I know. But I've got loads of Charms homework, so I don't expect I'll keep you guys longer than a couple of hours."

"Damn decent of you."

"Well look at it this way," said Remus reasonably; "which would Rachel prefer: some snogging by the fire tomorrow night, or winning the Quidditch Cup next month?"

"I don't know," Sirius said slowly.

"It was a rhetorical question, Padfoot."

"Yeah, well," Sirius continued, ignoring Remus's interjection; "she's sort of an instant gratification kind of girl."

"Aw, now don't go and talk about me behind my back, guys," said a voice from behind the Marauders. They turned in unison to see Eden taking the seat between Sirius and Paul. "Hey, Marauders. What goes on?"

"Not a lot," Sirius responded. "Where's your boy toy?"

"With the Ravenclaws," replied Eden, serving herself pumpkin juice and not sounding even slightly abashed; "but I see you've got yours with you, Sirius. Hi there, Peter."

"_Hey_!" objected Wormtail irritably, though admittedly, he looked more interested in his chicken leg than the comment.

_"Please_," quipped James; "we all know that Moony is more of Padfoot's type."

"You know it," muttered Sirius sarcastically as Remus pretended to slit his wrists. "Hey, toss me one of those clementines, E." Eden tossed the Marauder the fruit as requested and took a banana for herself.

"I hate bananas," she observed, peeling it. "And yet I always eat them."

"Good source of potassium," James pointed out.

"Good to know. What's potassium? So Quidditch is at three?"

James nodded; Sirius glared; Eden ate the banana.

"So, E," asked the Head Boy presently; "Where's Evans? I thought you'd stop breathing if you didn't have either her or Orlando with you at all times."

"She's still up in bed," Eden told them, finishing the banana and placing the peel on Sirius's shoulder. "Another headache."

"Is she hung over too then?" asked Peter brightly. Sirius was throwing a chicken bone at Eden.

"No," said the blonde, deflecting the chicken bone with her hand. "She's been getting these crazy- shit, don't you _dare_, Sirius Black- these crazy headaches for the past two weeks or so." Sirius was now threatening her with a goblet of water.

"Not 'cos of the Herbology thing?" grumbled James, eyebrows raised. He could _not_ see how falling off a stool could knock someone out in the first place, much less give them continual headaches.

"No, it started bef—if I get a _drop_ of water on me, Black—before the Herbology th... holy shit!"

Sirius had made good on his threat and covered the blonde with icy cold water. She was so stunned for a moment that, besides the brief profanity, Eden could not say anything. Sirius, Remus, Lexi, and Peter were laughing, but Remus and Lexi also both wisely commented on how dead Sirius would very soon be. It was Eden's turn to make good on Remus and Lexi's warning, but as she stabbed Sirius' hand with her fork, Rachel Brossle (who was seated a short ways down the table) watched the unfolding scene with an odd, knowingly blank expression.

_

* * *

_

Lily had decided some ten minutes ago that Professor Praedam would not really care if she were half asleep during his Monday morning class. After all, she usually paid attention, was seated in the back of the classroom, and it wasn't as if she was doing it to spite Praedam. Like a good, unbiased girl, she had slept through her earlier classes as well. Like good, uncaring teachers, the professors had been quite obliging to the Head Girl.

_"The forest is awfully big... we must have run for several miles..."_

_"Two or three, but you of all people should know that the forest is bigger than that."_

_"How should he know?"_

_"Natural knowledge of geography, of course, Red."_

The seemingly random scenes that flashed through Lily's mind periodically had become habitual to her. She barely noticed the stab of pain whenever James's distant voice floated through her head, or whenever the image of a familiar tree or clearing manifested itself in her brain.

And yet while all these apparently insignificant recollections returned to her, the one thing she _really_ wanted to know—who had done this to Potter and her—remained forgotten. When she remembered _that_, she had recently decided, she would go to Dumbledore.

The Head Girl cracked open one emerald green eye and looked through her arms, on which her head was rested, to see James Potter, slouching in his desk and either doodling or taking notes on the parchment before him. Lily suspected the former, but could not be certain because the idiot did, after all, manage to scrape excellent grades.

She was almost positive that none of his memories had come back yet for he had not missed school at all lately, and Lily had it directly from Remus (whom she had _tried_ to question inconspicuously) that he hadn't complained about a headache in months. If he hadn't complained, it seemed likely that he had had nothing to complain about; James was a very good complainer.

Lily sighed and shut her eye again. As long as she couldn't sleep, and as long as she did not really want to listen to the class, she thought she might as well do something useful with herself. She took a deep breath and tried to remember something.

Something.

She didn't know _what_ exactly it was she had to remember, but she knew it had to do with September the first, and it had to do with someone modifying her memories between the time she talked to Dumbledore that night, and the time she went into his pensieve the next morning. Admittedly, these were wide parameters, but they were all she had to go on.

Her head ached more than ever as she pictured herself conversing with James outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. It practically seared in pain at the recollection of walking up the stairs to the dormitory. She could remember reaching the door to her dormitory, opening it, and stepping forward. Then there was a sort of vague image of lying on her bed, but beyond that, it was all just blackness that made her head hurt.

With another sigh, Lily sat up and looked lazily at where Praedam was scribbling something on the chalkboard. Lily dabbed her quill into the inkwell and copied the words onto the parchment she was supposedly using for notes. When Praedam had finished writing and began to lecture again, Lily just doodled. She really did not care _what_ he might have been saying anymore.

Bored with the picture of a coffee cup that she'd been shading in, Lily's eyes began to wander around the classroom. Eden was sitting with Rian in the seat in front of her, and they were whispering about something or another that Lily could only assume (from her experience with the pair) was more or less entirely trivial. Lexi was sitting with Alice at the desk beside Eden, taking diligent notes, and though the two were generally quiet, Remus Lupin and Frank Longbottom did, occasionally, grow bored and lean over from their seats next to the girls to speak with them.

James and Paul were in the desk immediately behind Remus and Frank, and at the table between Lily's and that of the ringleader Marauder, were Eddie Bones and Sirius Black. Lily was currently seated with Rachel Brossle, but the brunette had grown so tired of the wad-of-parchment war that her boyfriend and Eden had waged at the beginning of class, that she had taken up the completion her Astronomy homework and was not paying attention to much else.

Lily sat up a little straighter before leaning over to talk to Eddie.

"Hey, Ed, what's going on?"

Eddie, who had been putting the finishing touches on his Transfiguration essay, sighed and whispered: "Not a whole lot. You?"

"Even less," admitted the redhead. "Look, I drew a coffee mug." She showed him the parchment.

"Bravo."

"Why thank you."

"So how's your headache?"

Lily looked a little surprised. She didn't remember telling him she had one. "How'd you know about that?"

"Red, you've been getting a headache every day for the past two weeks. You'd have to be the most unobservant person on the planet not to guess that you would have one this morning."

Lily shrugged. "It's fine I guess... going away, luckily. I'm gonna ask E for a headache tablet though. I hear she has stronger ones from Madame Pomfrey..." Lily turned and leaned over the front of her desk now. She gently kicked Eden's shoulder, and the blonde turned around quickly. Rachel instinctively looked up.

"E, you have any headache stuff for me?"

"Oh sure—in my bag; one minute." Eden procured the tablets from her book bag and gave them to Lily, who nodded her thanks. Then, the redhead pulled out her wand, waved it inconspicuously once, muttered a charm under her breath, and picked up the glass of water that was conjured there a moment later.

"Cheers," she muttered to Eddie, who grinned. She tossed the tablets in her mouth and took a long drink of water.

"So," asked the Ravenclaw presently; "any idea why you're getting these crazy headaches?"

Lily paused in mid-drink. When she put her glass down, she said with a shrug: "Er... allergies?"

The minutes slipped by uneventfully. All the Head Girl could think about was the end of the class. She needed _that_ much. Praedam was still going on about protective charms or some such in the front of the classroom, but Lily could not bring herself to pay attention. She didn't know how she was supposed to survive _all_ of Transfiguration—the next period—either.

And then a very attractive idea occurred to her. She didn't have to go. She could just leave... ditch for the day.

She was so sick of everything—the school, the classes, the headaches, the teachers... All she wanted right now as to leave it all and go to... And then a _very_daring thought entered Lily's head. Hogsmeade. What she really wanted to do was go to Hogsmeade.

Lily leaned back in her desk and thought of all the wonderful possibilities that this allowed. Hogsmeade. She could go to the Three Broomsticks and have butterbeer. It seemed like an eternity since she'd had butterbeer. Actually, it had only been since the last Marauder party, but still. She would have _killed_ for butterbeer.

Or coffee.

Oh, Merlin. Coffee.

_'And not just the plain coffee we have here,' _she thought wistfully. '_The extra sweet stuff you get at the snog spot café off the High Street... with all the foam and cream_...'

Lily shut her eyes and sighed at the very thought of that amazing coffee. Coffee and butterbeer. She opened her eyes again and surveyed the group around her. She couldn't very well ditch alone, could she? She needed someone with whom to ditch. One couldn't skive classes without a partner in crime. Absolutely not.

She looked around at the others.

Eddie? No. He wouldn't appreciate the coffee cravings.

Alice or Lexi? No. They certainly wouldn't do it.

Remus? No. Peter would tag along, and it wasn't as if Lily didn't like Peter or something, but she really thought it would be better if it were just two people. In fact, if she brought any Marauder, the other three were likely to come.

Lily smirked at the very thought of bringing Sirius. She reckoned he would be a very fun person to skive off class with. And James? He would be at least as much fun, quite possibly more.

_'If he were talking to you at the moment_,' said a voice inside Lily's head, but for once, she really did manage to completely ignore it.

James would know exactly the best places to go when skipping class. He would know the best escape routes too, and the best way to sneak back in without getting caught. And, when they did eventually get caught (as was inevitable, for McGonagall would not let it rest until she found out why two students had missed her class), James wouldn't bother lying. He would simply say that they were so sick of this school that they needed a breath of air. Of course, he would put a _very_ sympathetic spin on it all—"After all they'd been through" and "What with the Hogsmeade trips being canceled..."

Lily grinned but shook her head. It would never happen, of course. Sure, James would skive off classes without a moment's guilt or hesitation, but not with Lily. Damn men and their damn stubbornness.

Eden was the most suitable candidate, then.

Eden was the most experienced _girl_ when it came to skipping classes, being exceptionally close to the Marauders. Eden would be fun. Eden would buy coffee and butterbeer and laugh and joke. That would be fun.

The bell rang and Lily got up quickly. She met the blonde out in the corridor.

"E," she stated; "I'm going to Hogsmeade."

Eden gave Lily a strange look. "Holy bloody gulping Merlin, Lily! I was thinking the _exact _same thing. I mean, I would _murder_ for a coffee..."

"From that café where couples go to snog—just off the High Street?"

"Exactly!"

"And Butterbeer..."

"In the three broomsticks..."

"_Yes!_"

"Oh, God."

The girls hugged very briefly. "C'mon," said Lily, pulling away first, and grabbing Eden's hand. "We're going."

The blonde followed most willingly. They hurried past the other students, through the corridors, down the stairwells. No one suspected them and they moved easily enough, though the castle halls were crowded with everyone getting to class.

The girls finally came to the Entrance Hall, and, after consulting on the matter momentarily, decided to wait for a group of people going to Herbology. Presently, half a dozen sixth years passed through towards the large doors that led to the grounds and, in Lily and Eden's case, freedom.

They chatted with the group (which included Redival Shelley) casually for a moment, until they were only steps away from the exit. They were so close to being free for the afternoon. Just a little further and...

"Lily?"

Lily stopped dead, knowing the voice. Eden stopped with her and let out a barely audible: "Merlin, I hate my life." Redhead and blonde turned simultaneously to see Professor Slughorn approaching them from the broad marble staircase.

"Hello, Professor," droned the pair in despondent unison.

"Whatever is the matter?" demanded Slughorn, evidently shocked that anyone would not be pleased by his company. "Surely you don't mind a short detour from _Herbology_ of all subjects...?"

"Er... no, sir. Of course not."

Slughorn raised an eyebrow, and then suddenly an odd combination of utter confusion and partial comprehension spread over his aging face. "One moment, Miss Dearborn. Didn't we speak at breakfast about Herbology? Didn't you say it was your first class?"

Eden sighed. "Would you believe us if we said this was our free period?"

Slughorn raised his eyebrows even further. "Perhaps, excepting the fact that I just had the pleasure of encountering Mr. Black and Mr. Potter... on their way to Transfiguration, I believe."

Lily sighed now. "We were going to Hogsmeade," she confessed, not caring about the consequences, though rather caring about her having not gotten any coffee or butterbeer out of it.

The Potions Master looked nothing short of shocked. "Skiving classes?" he gaped.

"Sir," began Lily, mustering both her cleverest and most sympathetic voices and combining them into what she could only hope would be the most Slughorn-charming voice imaginable. "There hasn't been a Hogsmeade trip _all year_. We've been cooped up in this castle for months, and we're not the only ones who just want to break out."

"Really, Professor," continued Eden. "We haven't been out of the castle hardly at all. We haven't been to Honeydukes or anything... haven't had any proper sweets..." Lily mentally congratulated her friend. She was choosing a good mode of attack. Even if Slughorn didn't let them leave, he would very likely let them off with little or no punishment.

The Potions master looked at them sympathetically. "I understand your plight, Dear Girls, but skiving classes is not the most practical solution—especially such important classes as Transfiguration."

"Yes, Sir."

"My, my," continued the Professor thoughtfully; "it seems we all could use a break, doesn't it, though?" Lily merely nodded, though she wasn't quite sure to what he was referring. "First Silth, now you..."

The Head Girl was suddenly intent. "_Professor_ Silth?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Oh, well, I really ought not talk about such things with students..." Slughorn flushed a little as he said this.

"Of course," said Lily quickly, trying to suppress her excitement. "Of course. Only, I thought teachers were allowed to go to Hogsmeade when they wanted to."

"Well, yes, but not a three in the morning, my dear..." He chuckled at the thought. "In any case, enough of that. Now, you two, I hope I can trust, won't do something like this again?"

"No, Sir," said Lily and Eden together.

The Professor smiled and pulled out his wand. With a small swish, a scroll of parchment and quill were levitating in front of him. "My Dearest Minerva," he dictated to the quill, which began recording everything on the parchment; "Please excuse Miss Evans and Miss Dearborn for missing the first few minutes of your excellent class. I needed the pair of them for a task of the utmost importance. Thank you for understanding—Sincerely, Horace." He finished with flourish, and, with another flick of his wand, the quill disappeared. Slughorn handed the parchment to Eden and said, with a slight bow: "Good afternoon, Ladies."

He was gone a moment later, but blonde and redhead called after him in unison: "Thank-you, Professor," with mild enthusiasm. Admittedly, they could not get to Hogsmeade (not today anyway), but at least they wouldn't be in any trouble.

"What was _that_ all about?" Eden wanted to know, once Slughorn was out of earshot.

Lily tried to look innocent. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Silth?" questioned the blonde.

Lily faked an expression of incomprehension. Eden, acknowledging that she wasn't going to get any answers just rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder about you," she said, shaking her head.

And the pair trudged off to Transfiguration. Lily had no coffee, no butterbeer, and no comfort, but she _did_ have an awful lot to think about...

_

* * *

_

"That's Helfer, you prat."

"No, it's Carrow!"

"No... look, Carrow doesn't have a Comet... he flies some shitty '70 Coalblaster."

"Prongs, that _is_ a Coalblaster!"

"That is not a Coalblaster! If it were a Coalblaster, it would have the bronze rings around the tail!"

"It does!"

"That's not bronze, Pads. That's iron!"

Sirius rolled his eyes irritably. "Prongs, we're _way_ too far away to tell the difference between iron and bronze rings on the tail of Carrow's..."

"_Helfer's_..."

"..._Someone's_ broom!"

James shrugged. "Maybe _you_ are, but I'm not."

Peter rolled his eyes also. "Guys," he whined; "Can we go back to the castle, _please_? It's fur-eeezing!"

"Don't be a nancy boy, Worms," snapped James, pulling his binoculars up again and looking upward in the direction of the seven flying students some distance away. Since James was the Quidditch Captain, the Marauders had taken it upon themselves to spy on the Slytherin Quidditch team—or at least, James and Sirius had; Remus and Peter had been more or less forced. Unfortunately, the Slytherin Quidditch team practiced at five in the morning on Sundays, and it _was_ rather cold.

"I have to agree with Peter," Remus sighed, pulling his cloak closer around him. "At the very least, can we sit somewhere that's not soaked with dew?"

"No, no," dismissed Sirius; "This is the only place they won't see us."

"Under the ref box?"

"Yes."

Remus sighed again. "Why is it called a 'ref box' anyway?" he asked presently. "The ref isn't actually ever in here."

"Sure he is... just before the game."

"No he isn't!"

"Well he _would _be, if Jivé wasn't always late for everything. And Prongs, that is _definitely_ Carrow! Look how terribly he's flying! No Comet could _ever_ fly that badly!"

"That's Helfer's fault, not the broom's!"

"Helfer isn't _that_ bad!"

"Sure he is!"

"No, he..."

Remus grabbed the binoculars from James's hands. "Let _me_ see," he said, looking through the binoculars towards the sky. "Now which one are you idiots looking at?"

"The one playing Harrighagen," James told his friend.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"It means," clarified Sirius, "The one circling around up top aimlessly."

"Ahhh..." Remus looked through the binoculars again for a moment, then looked over at his friends. "That's Charles Gamp, you prats... look, he's black."

James and Sirius checked and, seeing that Remus was correct, assumed expressions of utter indifference. "Well it's too early to see something as minor as that."

"Oh, I've got an idea!" piped up Peter. "Why don't we go back to bed? That's a lovely idea, isn't it, Moony?"

"Very lovely," agreed Remus, but Sirius and James were already far lost to spying on the Slytherins again. Remus sighed and looked at Peter. "Just think," he said wistfully; "a few more weeks and we'll get a word in edgewise with these two that _won't_have to do with Quidditch."

Peter looked at the ringleader Marauders skeptically. "I doubt it..."

_

* * *

_

James was missing at breakfast, and Lily wondered why. The other three Marauders were there—Sirius was right next to her, as a matter of fact—but the leader was conspicuously missing. She'd gone through two blueberry muffins and a goblet of pumpkin juice, and still the Head Boy was absent.

"Sirius," she said curiously, and the Marauder looked up at her.

"Yeah?"

"Where's James?"

Sirius grinned. "Gone... anything _I_ can do for you?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"If I was looking for help of _that_ kind, Black, I would've gone strait to you."

"I'm really so much better."

"Oh, I know it."

Sirius grinned and took a drink of his pumpkin juice. "Well, what do you want James for, anyway?" he asked, when he was finished.

"Nothing, really. I'm just shocked to see you two separated. I thought you were joined at the hip."

"Only _girls_ can be joined at the hip, Red."

"I doubt it."

"Well don't."

"Well okay."

"Well alright."

"But that still doesn't answer my question: where is our incomparable Head Boy?"

"Our? I didn't know I was going to have to share him with you."

"Dodging the question..."

"Oh, _I_ know it."

Lily raised her eyebrows, smirking nonetheless.

"Well," relented the Marauder at last, "if you were a teacher, I would tell you he's having a bit of a lie-in."

"I'm not a teacher."

"Thank God."

Lily leaned in and muttered conspiratorially: "What would you tell me if I were Remus?"

Sirius seemed to consider this for a moment. "'Why do you have breasts, Moony?'" Lily leaned back, rolling her eyes but smiling slightly anyway.

"He's doing something against the rules, isn't he?"

"Well," said Sirius, grinning. "I guess I could tell you, seeing as—the way I hear it—you were very close to doing the same..." Lily raised an eyebrow. "He's in Hogsmeade," the Marauder finally disclosed.

"Oh, is that all. Well, I won't get him in trouble about it, if that's what you were worried about. I'd be a hypocrite to criticize."

"That's never stopped you in the past," Sirius said, winking and taking a swig of pumpkin juice.

"What is that supposed to mean?" demanded Lily, hoping her voice sounded at least slightly off-handed and uncaring, rather than entirely offended and worried.

Sirius shrugged. "Interpret as you will," he said simply. He picked up another cinnamon bun and stuffed it in his mouth.

"Oh, that's charming," the redhead commented, rolling her eyes. She was thoroughly unable to suppress the grin that was returning to her face, however.

"Wha ca' I say? I jus' a chawrmin' bwoke..."

Lily just handed him a goblet of pumpkin juice, of which he made immediate use. When the food was completely swallowed, a grinning Sirius began conversation again. "So, Redhead," he began cheerfully; "why so curious about Hah-mes."

"Hah-mes?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

"You know, like 'James' only messing with the syllables...?'"

"And the letter sounds...'"

"Don't you ever do that?"

"All day," remarked Lily sardonically.

"Moving on..." said Sirius, in a businesslike manner. "Why were you so curious?"

"I wanted to ask him something." Hey, there was nothing wrong with _little_ _white_ lies, was there? Of course not.

"Of what nature?" The Marauder raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Haven't we been over this?"

"Probably," said Remus Lupin from the opposite side of the table, joining the pair's conversation, having finished his own with Lexi, next to whom he was sitting. "Padfoot's conversations tend to be generally repetitive."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Has anyone ever told you that you talk like a girl, Moony?"

"You have, twice."

"Make that three times, Lupin."

"You have, thrice."

"See? What kind of girly word is 'thrice?'"

"Dumbledore uses it," observed Lily.

"Well, old blokes can talk like girls if they want to. It's sort of an 'old bloke's privilege' thing."

Remus rolled his eyes. "This is one of the sorriest conversations I've been involved in for a while."

Lily rested her chin on her fist; "He's just jealous, Sirius."

"Green with it," agreed the Marauder.

"What am I jealous of, again?" Remus wanted to know.

"Red's obsession with me," Sirius stated nonchalantly, slinging an arm around Lily's shoulders.

"So jealous," agreed the Head Girl.

"Look at him... pathetic."

Remus looked indifferent. "Well, at least I'm not completely _blind_. At least I could tell the difference between Gamp and Carrow."

"I was _tired_," retorted Sirius coolly. "And anyway, Gamp isn't their seeker, and it looked like he was pulling Harrighagen, so how was I... Oi! Ya'll right there, Evans?"

Lily had shut her eyes very tight and covered her face with her hands at the sudden headache that overcame her. James's words seared through her head: _"Harrighagen said the best strategy for a seeker- under any circumstances- is fly... and fly fast..."_

"What's the matter, Lily?" Remus asked, concern in his voice. "Another headache?"

"I'm fine," lied the Head Girl, getting up. "I just... just remembered something I have to d-do. So... er... see you later, right? Um... have a nice day." And with that, she began walking hastily away.

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks. "'Have a nice day?'" quoted Sirius, mockingly. "What's wrong with her? Has _she_ been getting headaches too?" Remus nodded. "Just like Prongs's?" Remus nodded. Sirius raised an eyebrow. "That's suspicious." Remus nodded. "Connected, you think?" Remus nodded. Sirius nodded as well. "Yeah. Me too."

Lily, meanwhile, was just plain and simply angry. She was angry with the school and she was angry with herself and she was angry with her brain for not being able to think about things without stabs of pain attacking her head. Why her? Why had she been the one to follow the mysterious swimmer who had turned out to be James in the lake? She almost wished she'd just drowned. Well, not really. Not even close. But still: this was getting ridiculous. She had to do _something_.

At the great doorway that led to the Entrance Hall, Lily turned and looked over to the Slytherin table. She scanned it several times in search of the particular Slytherin she needed at the moment. About a minute's observation told her, however, that he was not there at the moment. With an irritated sigh, she walked out of Great Hall.

What she needed now was to find Severus Snape.

_

* * *

_

"One Irish Firework for Mr. Potter."

"Thanks, Rosmerta."

"Anytime, James."

The pretty young waitress winked at the Head Boy, who smiled charmingly in return. When Rosmerta had left him to his own devices, James surveyed the arrangement before him. There was a tallish glass filled with a foaming, pale amber liquid; next to this was a shot glass of a slightly darker colored drink. Picking up the shot glass, James very quickly tipped the contents of it into the taller glass, and then, as the two liquids swirled but before any of the darker drink could actually mix in properly, the Quidditch Captain took a long, deep drink.

Being of-age certainly had its advantages.

Rosmerta returned a moment later. "How'd you like it?" she asked, smiling.

"Like mother used to make it," joked James in return.

"So where is Mr. Black?" the waitress continued. "I thought surely you two were joined at the hip."

"Only girls can be joined at the hip."

"Oh, I see. Well, I should go, or Mother will have my head. Enjoy your drink and tell me if you want anything else."

"I will."

Rosmerta left again and James took another long drink. When he set the glass down, he rested his forehead in his hands and shut his eyes tight. His head didn't hurt right now, but that was unusual. Beginning on Saturday morning, the memories of September the first had slowly begun to seep back into his consciousness. However, this happened at great cost. He had so far managed to hide the aching in his head from everyone but his fellow Marauders, but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

James emptied his glass and pulled out his money purse from the pocket of his robes. He set the money down next to the empty glasses and, with a small wave to Rosmerta, walked out of the pub.

It was warm outside, but distinctly overcast nonetheless. The shops were relatively busy, for it was a Saturday afternoon, ideal for shopping. It was also ideal for homework, which was what James ought to have been doing. However, he could not bring himself to sit in the Common Room and do homework _today_. It was his birthday.

His heart seemed to quicken at the thought. Eighteen. Today, he was eighteen.

There was something so final about turning eighteen. He'd been of-age for a year now, but turning eighteen seemed to seal it with such certainty. He was definitely an adult now, and there was no excuse anyone could make to the contrary. In just over a month he'd been done with school. His insides twisted about uncomfortably; the idea of leaving Hogwarts was simultaneously thrilling and terrifying.

"Why, hullo, Mr. Potter," said the clerk of Zonko's Joke Shop, spotting the Head Boy as he passed by. The shopkeeper was managing the outdoor display at the moment, but he knew James as a frequent customer and was always glad to spare him a moment.

"Hullo, Hank," James replied, casually fiddling with one of the brightly colored balls (on the display) that looked like marbles.

"Those are Bouncers," Hank informed him cheerily.

"Yeah, I know." James was forcefully reminded of the redhead who had driven him to Hogsmeade today.

"Ten a galleon, and it's a bargain if I've ever offered one. 'Say, where are your classmates, anyway?" Hank looked up and down the street, but James merely shrugged.

"Up at the castle."

"Snuck out, did yeah?" Hank appeared impressed; "I'm glad to hear it. Business ain't what it used to be. 'Say, Potter, what d'you say to some of these? New product, y'know; they call it 'Funny Face.'"

James looked at the assorted variety of vials that bore the label "Funny Face," each of them containing different pastel and vaguely girlish colored liquids. He raised an eyebrow at the shopkeeper. "What is it?"

Hank grinned mischievously. "It's brilliant," he told James; "a drop in a lady's make up and by the time she's done applyin' the junk, she'll be worse off than a misdirected vanity charm."

The idea was tempting, but James, grinning also, shook his head. "Don't you think maybe I've moved on a bit from giving girls green skin?"

"Mmm... but there's so much more to these products! Lookey: with this one, Lady Unlucky will have to shave more 'en you do for at least two months! With that one, she'll end up with hair like the bloody Medusa! And replace her per-foom bottle with _this one_, here, and you'll fin'ly get a word in edgewise in your conv'sations!"

"Well," said James, picking up the fake perfume bottle and examining it with interest. "If it'll make you happy, I'll take one of these. How much?"

"Three galleons."

"Three galleons?"

"Mmmm... a real specialty."

"This costs three galleons?"

"Certainly does."

"Then how is it the label on the bottom says a galleon and five sickles?"

Hank did not look abashed. "A galleon, five sickles," he stated cheerily. "That's what I said. A galleon, five sickles."

"That's what it costs?"

"It surely is."

"Alright then." James handed Hank the money and pocketed the bottle. With a cheerful goodbye, the Head Boy began to move towards the other shops, but he stopped a few paces away and added, turning to the shopkeeper: "Thanks for the discount!" James walked away with a grin on his face. He could not see what Hank did next, but he could only assume by the shouts of: "Bloody cheat!" that came after him, that the clerk had noticed the label on the bottom of other 'Funny Face' bottles that read "one galleon, ten sickles."

A middle-aged witch in front of the popular teashop a few doors down smiled at James as he passed. Her artificially blonde hair was stashed in a messy bun on the back of her head and her robes indicated that she was a waitress in the shop behind her, but she looked perfectly jovial. "'Ave you been cheatin' poor Hank, Dear?" she asked, entirely uninjured by the idea.

"Never," said James; "And to prove it..." He withdrew five sickles from the money purse in his left pocket and handed it to the witch. "It's a tip," he said, nodding towards the building behind her.

"You haven't had anything to eat," pointed out the witch, with a smirk.

"I'm not hungry," James shrugged. "Have a nice day."

"Have a lovely one yourself."

The Quidditch Captain continued down the street, stopping every once in a while to look in a shop window, but not going inside. He was just nearing the end of town, where the road dipped, giving way to the Hogs Head Pub, beyond which there was little, save the road to the Shrieking Shack, when a voice behind him called his name. He turned and saw a familiar figure coming towards him.

A grin spread over James's face as the figure drew closer. "Gideon?" he said, though he already knew it to be the Hogwarts alumni.

"James Potter," said Gideon Prewett, a good-looking eighteen year old who had played Chaser for Gryffindor the previous year. "Good to see you."

The two grasped each other's hand briefly, then stepped back.

"Where's Black?" Gideon asked, steering The Head Boy into the pub.

"Up at school. It's not a Hogsmeade weekend for him."

Gideon looked confused. "How's that?"

"Well, it's not a Hogsmeade weekend for anyone, really."

"Snuck out, did you? And you still never have told me all the passages you found... though _I_ told you about the one on the third floor."

"For which I am eternally grateful."

Gideon grinned. They walked to the bar and ordered their respective drinks from the odd-looking bartender, before selecting a table and sitting down. "So," began Gideon presently; "What brings you to the village today?"

James took a drink from his goblet. "It's my birthday, Gid. I can't believe you didn't remember," he added jokingly

"Birthday?" Gideon looked up at this. "Eighteen years old, are you? Well that's bloody brilliant, that is. Your drink's on me, Mate, and I _won't_hear discussion. Happy Birthday, Potter." He raised his glass to James, who clinked it with his own before taking another swig.

"What about you, Gid? Why are you in town?"

"Dumbledore owled me, actually," was the reply. "'Don't know why. 'Just said he wanted to speak with me, so here I am. I generally don't refuse his _requests_, y'know. But that's dull rot. How is Hogwarts without Fabian and me? How's the Quidditch team."

"Lexi Shaw and Mackey Simms are playing chaser with Frank," James told him. "We're doing alright... we lost one match by a spot of bad luck—Filch kidnapped me, y'know—but it's turned out alright 'cos we're in the Final."

Gideon's eyes gleamed with familiar excitement. "What's the final match, then?"

James grinned. "Gryffindor verses Slytherin," he said; "I know, I know, talk about suspense."

"I sort of wish my last match could have been against Slytherin," Gideon reminisced; "Then again, the Ravenclaw match wasn't bad."

"You played well that game," James agreed. "Scored what—sixty points?"

"Seventy," corrected the other.

"Cheers." James raised his glass again, and Gideon met it.

"How's the rest of the team playing? Black and Twenty-Two and the rest?"

"Twenty-two hasn't had as many saves as he did last year, but I think he's met his record percentage. Got a couple test-fly offers from National teams, too."

"Brilliant! Is he gonna make good on 'em?"

James nodded. "Yeah, it's exciting, eh? Maybe we'll get free tickets every once in a while."

"What about you?" Gideon asked, taking another drink. "Twenty-two is a damn good Quidditch player, but we both know you're the best the school has at the moment. Don't tell me that _you_ didn't get any offers?"

James shrugged. "I might've." Gideon raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, alright, I did," the Captain conceded finally. "But I don't think I'm gonna play Quidditch professionally."

Gideon nodded. "Yeah, I figured. You've got too much of your parents in you to do that. You might be a cocky little bastard..." he hit James jokingly on the side of the head... "but you've got a brain in your head too."

"Yeah, well, if I'm cocky, you probably shouldn't be singing my praises."

Gideon grinned and finished his drink. "I'm still a little confused," he said at length; "You're here in the village all alone? No Marauders? No girlfriend?"

James rolled his eyes. "This is a vacation from both. Well, from _one_ of them, anyway."

"I trust you don't mean the Marauders," laughed the other. "So who's the flavor of the week, Potter? Let me guess... er... Eden Dearborn."

"Merlin, no," scoffed James. "Eden could no more be a Flavor of the Week than Hildie Von Streus, except Eden's good looking and Hildie... well... anyway, Eden's practically my sister."

"Damn good looking sister, you got there, Potter."

"Don't make me sick."

"Well then who is it, your girlfriend?"

"Redival Shelley—remember her? She's a sixth year."

Gideon nodded his approval. "Good looking bird," he admitted. "Is she annoying, though?"

"Well," began James slowly. "No... no, I don't think so. It's just... well... you're liable to get a little tired when you hang out with just one person after a while, right? And I've been hanging out Redival non-stop since Christmas."

"Christmas? Merlin, you're practically engaged."

"Thanks for the reassurance."

"No sweat. How's the rest of the old group? Lupin?"

"Good, good. Girlfriend-less again, but what can you do? Moony just doesn't like to have birds hanging about."

"I see. And Black?"

"Quidditch is keeping him busy, but he's with Rach again."

"Nice."

"Mmmmhmmm..."

"Longbottom, Montreal?"

"Longbottom's not doing so great, what with his Dad and all."

"Yeah, I read about that. How's Twenty-Two, besides Quidditch-occupied?"

James shrugged. "Good, I guess. He was with Rachel for about thirty seconds before she got back together with Sirius. I don't know much beyond that. I always thought he had a thing for Lexi."

"Lexi Shaw?"

"Sure, why not? She's not bad looking."

"Nah, I guess not. How's E doing, anyway? 'Haven't had an owl from her in months. How's she taking the Rach and Sirius thing?"

"Alright, I guess. I don't know. But Sirius acts the same towards her as ever, so I can't see why she'd complain. And Rian Orlando is simply all over her."

"That pretty boy Ravenclaw? God help us."

"Mmm..."

"And how is my Red?" Gideon asked finally, and James had known it was coming long in advance. "She hasn't sent me an owl since God knows when, and I had to find out through Trent that the pair of them broke up."

"Trent was a prat; she shouldn't have gone out with him in the first place."

Gideon raised his eyebrows. "How sweet. You were jealous." He smirked a little mockingly.

James scoffed. "I can safely say, Prewett, that Lily Evans and I will _never_ go out. There's absolutely no danger of me being jealous."

"Those two sentences have nothing to do with each other," Gideon pointed out. "And I've always thought you might have had a thing for Redhead... a sort of 'forbidden love' type thing. You asked her out enough."

"Right, and in first year you used to ask Lexi out as a joke, but it didn't mean you would have actually gone out with her then."

"Ah, but I only did that to see if she got red in the face and whacked me with her Transfiguration book."

"Which she did."

"Every time," agreed Gideon. "But you're digressing: Lily Evans. You like her."

James rolled his eyes. "I don't. Really."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Alright."

"You believe me?"

"No."

James sighed. "'Didn't think so." He glanced out the window and noticed a middle-aged witch walking down the street. In her hand, she had a mug of smoking liquid, which James suspected to be coffee, as the mug resembled that from the coffee shop just down the road. Smirking slightly at the idea that consequently struck him, James turned to Gideon and began a conversation about something else entirely. The coffee cup was still on his mind, but his headache was mostly gone.

_

* * *

_

At long last, the hooked nose and greasy black hair that Lily usually avoided came into view, and the Head Girl gave a sigh of relief. Severus Snape was just leaving the library, and Lily hurried to catch up with him. He looked surprised to see her falling into pace with him, but a moment later disguised every possible emotion that may have been present in him with a look of indifference.

"Severus," began Lily, as kindly as possible. He did not greet her, so she continued; "Severus, I want a favor."

Snape raised his thick black eyebrows at her, but said nothing.

"I was wondering if you..." She checked to make sure no one was listening. No one was. "I was wondering if you have a pensieve."

Now, Snape could not hide his shock. "A pensieve?" he asked sharply. "What makes you think I have a pensieve?"

"You've mentioned them twice to me in quite a familiar fashion," Lily answered immediately, having expected the question. "If anyone does, I thought it would be you."

"Well I don't have one."

Lily did not believe him. She told him so. He said nothing. They continued walking.

"Listen, I just need to borrow it for five minutes. Honest, that's all."

"I don't have one."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care."

Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him back to face her. "Please, it's very important."

"I don't have..."

"Don't lie. You and I both know you have one. There's no point."

Snape evaluated Lily through cold black eyes for a moment, then said in his usual sharp voice: "I do have one."

"Then, may I use it?"

"No."

"Why n...?"

"No."

"But..."

"No."

And with that, he stalked away. Annoyed, Lily folded her arms and walked the other direction. She'd spent the last half an hour looking for the Slytherin, and he wouldn't even hear her out. It _would_ figure...

"Hey, Lily!"

The Head Girl looked up to see Eden hurrying towards her.

"Hey, Girl," said Lily, still irritated. "What's up?"

"This!" Eden withdrew what slightly resembled a muggle thermos container, though smaller, from behind her back. Lily raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?" she asked, confusion mounting.

"It's coffee," said Eden, smiling proudly.

"Er... alright. Thanks, I guess."

"No, no," the blonde continued, still smiling. "It's real coffee. It's the stuff from that shop in Hogsmeade." Lily immediately snatched the thermos-esque container from her friend's hands.

"My Merlin, where'd you get it?"

"Er... from the shop in Hogsmeade?"

"Well evidently," pressed Lily, taking a sip. "But... did you sneak out yourself?"

Eden hesitated. "Y-yes," she said finally.

Lily gave her friend a look. "E, that was the worst lie you've ever told."

"Well," said Eden; "Whoever did get it, bought one for me and one for you, having discovered our plight."

"'Whoever?'"

"Yes, 'whoever.' So don't question me, or I'm sure to give in, and I swore I wouldn't tell."

"Alright, I won't question you."

Eden grinned. "Lovely. Now, will you walk me to the Ravenclaw Common Room? I'm supposed to meet Rian outside it."

"Yeah, alright."

Lily linked arms with her friend. She didn't need Eden to tell her who had bought this in Hogsmeade, because she already knew who had been there today. She took a sip. For some reason, it tasted even better than usual.

And on further consideration, Lily noticed her head didn't hurt anymore.

_

* * *

_

The Head meeting had been pushed to Sunday evening, because that was the only time James was free from Quidditch responsibilities. Lily prepared for it with more thoughtfulness than she had prepared her homework with. She dressed slowly, ate the preceding dinner slowly, and walked towards the East Tower Room slowly, immersed in her own speculations.

Somewhere in all her thoughts, however, Lily came to a conclusion. Tonight, she was going to apologize to James. She was going to properly apologize. Furthermore, she was going to tell him that she was starting to believe some of the suspicions he'd voiced at Christmas. The bit of information she had received from Slughorn about Silth was at the very least worth investigating.

The Head Girl was still irritated that she had not been able to obtain use of a pensieve, but she supposed that if she told James that her memories had all but entirely returned, he might be so intrigued by what she did remember, he would forgive her, or at least forget to hate her. Yet he didn't hate her (after all, he _had_ bought her coffee... probably), and, for some reason, as she walked to the East Tower Room that evening, this thought was comforting.

Lily arrived at the door that led to the stair at almost exactly the same time as James arrived, coming from the opposite direction. The Head Boy did not offer a greeting, but just as he was about to walk inside, Lily caught his arm and said in a very disciplined voice: "James, I need to talk to you."

James simply looked at her. "Talk away."

"James, I..."

"Jay! Jay! James!" The unmistakable voice of James's girlfriend echoed in the corridor, and the unmistakable form of Redival Shelley herself was visible, approaching rapidly from down the corridor. James turned quickly, just in time to see the blonde dash up to him.

She threw her arms around his waist and, standing on her tiptoes, kissed him on the cheek.

"James," she said in a would-be reprimanding tone; "Where have you been? I haven't spoken three words to you all day."

James smiled down at his beautiful girlfriend and gave her a somewhat lasting kiss on the lips. Lily looked away. "Sorry, Redival," he said, with sincerity in his tone and expression. "I've been really busy today... I had Quidditch this afternoon and I was... er... busy this morning..."

Redival sighed. "Well, c'mon, let's go then," she said, tugging at his arm. "It's your birthday! We have to celebrate!"

"I can't," said James dutifully. "I've got a Head meeting."

Redival glanced at Lily, as if noticing for the first time that she was there. "Oh, hello, Lily," she said pleasantly. "Well," she added, looking disappointedly at James. "If you must... you couldn't cover for him?" Redival looked hopefully at the redhead.

"I already have twice this month..."

"Yeah, alright," sighed the blonde. "Well... could I just borrow him for two minutes, right now, Lily? Honest I won't be long... I just want to talk to him about something."

Lily opened the door that led to the tower. "Yeah, of course," she said, not wanting to think of what sort of "talking" the two would do in the next few minutes. She began to walk up the stair, but James's voice stopped her.

"Wait, Evans... was there something you were going to say?"

Lily turned and looked down at him. Redival's arms were around his waist once more, but James was looking over his shoulder at the Head Girl.

"Oh... er..." Lily was taken off guard. "Yeah. Um... Happy Birthday, James."

With that said, the redhead turned away quickly, for Redival was already beginning to attack his ear. Had Lily watched a little longer, however, she would have known that James's sight lingered on her retreating figure for a moment, before returning the girlfriend before him.

_

* * *

_

**Note: **I'm _so_ psyched about this right now! There are probably about two more chapters after this before we get to what I would call the beginning of the end. Now, don't get me wrong; I mean, there's still plenty more to go, but things are starting to start to begin to wrap up. Anyway, I won't reveal too much 'bout the future, but there's lots of crazy stuff going on.

Signed in people have there responses. Love and cookies to anonymous reviewers: **Karen** (I fear thy wrath, so I updated :-P); **sky4444** (yeah, my friend and I spent hours doing the color-name thing once :-P thanks for R&Ring), and **tasz** (thank you for the review! The last bit was a bit confusing: James didn't find Lily's reaction weird, he was just annoyed that _hers_ corresponded with his, while Redival's didn't).

EVERYONE: I really want to know what you think is coming. I don't care if you think it's stupid—I want to know your theories! Pronto. So, leave it in a review, or e-mail me (the address is in my pro), or both. Whatev. Extra cookies to everyone who tells me their theories:-D Love to reviewers!


	19. The Snitch Snatch

_NftC: _Well, I really just want to thank everyone who read and reviewed Ch. 18. All that feedback was helpful and inspiring, thus the relatively quick update. You guys were wonderful—many thanks! Love to reviewers :-P

_History_: I am to Harry Potter as... damn it, I suck at analogies. I don't own anything but some ice tea and a jar of olives (for which I am very grateful).

_The Much-Loved Recap_: (Chapter 6) Eden's father comes to Hogwarts and Lily sees that the two are at odds. (Chapter 10/11) James and Lily suspect respectively Praedam and Silth of being death eaters, but the pair searches their offices, which is inconclusive of Silth, but brings them to believe Praedam is not in Voldemort's services. (Chapter 12) Lily flashes back to second year when she first started to hate James and remembers circumstances with her first almost-date. (Chapter 18) Lily begins to regain some of her memories from the forest, as does James (slightly).

_Long Chapter alert!_

Chapter 19**-"The Snitch Snatch"  
**(aka- "Transgressions")  
_"Be careful that victories do not carry the seeds of such future defeats." –Ralph W. Sockman_

"What if we lose?"

"We're not going to lose."

"Right. But what if we do?"

"We _won't_."

"I know, I know, but _if_ we do...?"

"Damn it, Worms. With that attitude, we will! Merlin, you're a pessimist."

James and Peter sat by the lake on the very last day of April. Flitwick had let them out early, they still had half an hour till dinner, and the two Marauders were spending it in the speculation that had occupied so much of the school's thought lately. The Quidditch Final was only a few weeks away and a constant, nervous sort of thrill had settled in James's stomach. This made the wait only more nerve-wracking; if Gryffindor won, James knew that he would look back on the feeling with fondness. If Gryffindor lost... well, they weren't going to lose. He wished he could make himself feel as confident as he sounded.

"Prongs!"

Sirius came rushing up to the two Marauders a moment later, looking a little flushed form the run. "What is it?" asked James quickly, seeing the urgency in his friend's face. "What's the matter?"

Breathing loudly, Padfoot sat on the grass, facing James, and said: "Well, Moony and I were stuffing Filch's bag with dungbombs (y'know... just to stay on our toes), and I had a thought..."

"My God, you're kidding me!"

"Oh sod off. I _meant_ that I had a thought that... well, I'd never even considered it but... well..."

"Spit it out, you great prat."

"What if we lose, Prongs?"

James groaned. "We're not going to lose!" he said at the exact same time as Peter. "Now go back to your old ways of 'not thinking' before you get yourself in trouble. Besides, stupidity suits you."

"Har, har," said Sirius sardonically, standing and walking over to the tree James was propped up against. He jumped and grabbed hold of one of the thicker branches, from which he began to swing. Remus appeared walking towards them a short distance away, and Peter was quick to point it out.

When the fourth Marauder came up to them, he sat in Sirius's former patch of grass. He was laughing loudly. "Merlin, Padfoot!" he said, composing himself ever so slightly; "Why'd you leave? It was a classic Filch moment!"

"I had to counsel with Prongs," replied Sirius with dignity.

"His face... Merlin, his face, Padfoot!" gasped Remus, as if not having heard his friend. "Priceless! Golden! Classic—I'm telling you!"

"Go on then," urged Peter. "What happened?"

Remus then related the entire story, from the prank itself, to the point where Filch had nearly punished a fourth year for the whole thing. "And then," Mr. Moony went on, "_I_ turned up and since you two—" (here he nodded to James and Sirius) "—weren't there, he assumed I was perfectly respectable, so I told him the fourth year had been helping me carry books to the library, and therefore _couldn't_ have put the dungbombs in his bag... and, believe me, Filch was about to _explode_ So, when Filch made off to get detention forms, the fourth year and I thought it was best to get out of there, but... Merlin, the expression! _Classic!"_

The Marauders laughed appreciatively at the mental image of Filch exploding (figuratively _and_ literally), and then Remus continued: "So what 'counsel' did Padfoot need?"

"He was worrying about the Quidditch cup," said Peter at once. Sirius kicked him.

"Pansy," observed Remus.

Sirius scoffed. "I'm the _least_ pansy Marauder there is," he told them. "Worms squeals like a girl, Prongs is a sucker for them, and Moony reads like one. You're pansies, the lot of you!"

"Shut up, Padfoot," scolded the three, mostly amiably.

"I'm just saying, is all," Sirius replied, as he swung all the way up the branch and stretched out on it. Resting his head against the branch, he stared up at the branches directly in front of him, and at the sky he could see through them.

Remus, meanwhile, also stretched out, though on the grass. He put his hands behind his head and said: "So, guys... with all this hype you lot are spreading about the Cup, I kind of have to wonder... what if we _lose?"_

"We won't lose," chorused the other three immediately.

"Of course not," Remus sighed. "If you say s..."

"You two!" shrieked a girl's voice suddenly. All four Marauders looked up to see Eden Dearborn standing over (or in Sirius's case, under) them, hands on hips and a stern expression on her pretty face.

"'Ello, E," said James good-naturedly.

"_You two_!" she repeated, casting chilling glares at James and Sirius. "_You two!_"

"Say that one more time and I swear I'll hit a bludger at you during the Final," Sirius warned cheerily. "Us two. Yes. It's established."

"You guys are dead," Eden informed them.

"Ha, ha, you're dead!"

"Shut up, Moony."

Eden cleared her throat.

"Alright, E," said James diplomatically. "What is we've done now?"

"You've put guards on me!" the blonde cried angrily.

"For your own safety, Dear," Sirius assured her jovially. "You're the star beater of the Gryffindor team—besides me—and any Slytherin might have a go at you at _any_ time."

"So you've appointed the two idiots of the century to keep guard on me?" Eden demanded, pointing to the two hulking Gryffindors who stood ominously about twenty yards away.

"They're sixth years," informed Sirius unimportantly.

"They're completely incompetent and stupid!" continued the infuriated girl. "They wouldn't let Rian near me! It's your fault that my boyfriend is currently in the Hospital Wing with a black eye!"

"No, no," scoffed Sirius. "It's not _our_ fault. It's _your _fault for having a boyfriend who's a complete..."

"Pansy."

"Thank you, Moony."

"Any time, Padfoot."

Eden made a noise of disbelief. "I'd like to see one of you two take on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum over there!"

"We did. Twice."

Eden rolled her blue eyes irritably. "_I_ can take care of _myself_, thank you very much."

"Awww... c'mon, E," pleaded the Quidditch Captain. "Just let those guys stick around. They're really very nice chaps, once you get to know them." The girl looked at James skeptically. "I'm serious."

"Actually, _I'm_..."

"Shut up, Sirius. Really, E. I just don't want to see you get hurt because of a Quidditch match! I didn't know those two would hurt Rian. I swear!" James gave the blonde such an earnest look that she sighed.

"Alright, alright," she grumbled. "But tell them to lay off a bit, alright? I mean, I'm fairly certain that Rian isn't going to attack me."

"Oh but E, the just don't want you to get pregnant is all," Sirius said, most unhelpfully. Eden glared at him so coldly that just about anyone else would have cowered.

"Sirius, shut up before we all kill you," Remus advised carelessly.

"Don't kill him just yet, Remus," Eden said, still glaring at Sirius. "I don't want Rian to have died in vain, and we will need _two_ beaters for the match. But I'm warning you..." She pointed a threatening finger at them: "If we lose..."

"We're not going to lose!" said the Marauders with certainty.

Eden folded her arms. "I hope not." And with that, she stalked away. Her two guards followed presently, apparently unaware that she knew they were following her. When Eden was gone, Jams looked up at his best friend in the tree branch.

"Padfoot," he said. "Did you tell Stivey and Slate to attack Orlando if he got near Eden?"

Sirius, who was still staring up at the sky, made a disbelieving sound, not unlike Eden's. "Now, Prongs," he began innocently, "would _I_ do something like that?"

* * *

"_Eden_," whined Alice to her friend, as the two, as well as Lily, walked to the Owlry one afternoon, a few days into May. 

"Yes, Al?" replied Eden.

"What's up with Lexi?"

"I can't tell you."

"But why not?"

"Because I promised I wouldn't."

"C'mon," Lily pleaded. "Tell us! She'll tell us soon enough anyway. Why don't _you_ just tell us? Save time and all that?"

"Because I promised not to!"

Alice sighed. "It's hopeless," she said dramatically. "Our friends are just mean and secretive!"

"Now, Al-lice, do you really think you can guilt trip _me_ of all people?" scoffed Eden. "_Please_." The arrived at the Owlry, but Lily and Alice had still learned no new information from their friend.

"But why did she tell you but not us?" Lily wanted to know.

"Oh, well, it's nothing personal," Eden assured them, waving towards her owl. "Come here, Blue! There's a good girl... c'mon! yeah, good girl..." The owl swept down and landed on Eden's arm, and the blonde continued to her friends; "Lex only told _me_ because I was right there and she needed someone to vent to in the immediate aftermath."

"So it was bad?"

"Oh no, not at all," Eden said quickly, tying her letter to the owl's leg. "Good, actually. Very good."

Lily and Alice let out irritated exclamations, and the blonde smiled knowingly. "Don't worry about it. She'll tell you soon enough... and speak of the devil!" For at that moment, Lexi herself had entered the Owlry, carrying a brown paper package.

"Oi, Greetings, You Lot," said the girl, a little surprised at the sight of her friends. "We're sending a present to Mary-Alice—the little sister. It's her birthday tomorrow. What are you all doing here?"

"E's sending a letter and Al and I are interrogating her," pouted Lily.

"Oh? Sounds lovely. What are you interrogating her about?"

"You," Alice told her. "But she wont spill anything, so don't worry."

"Won't spill what?"

"She won't tell what's going on with you," replied Alice with an unusual testiness in her tone. "You've been acting differently _all_ day, and Eden knows why and she's _not telling_."

"Well," said Lexi, tying her own package to a school owl. "We _think_ we know what you are referring to, but it's nothing so very earth-shattering as to merit the interrogation of Eden. We would hate to disappoint you two."

"_Tell us_!"

Lexi sighed as she sent off the owl. "If you really want to know, certainly. But we hope you don't have false hopes. It's not extraordinary, to be sure."

"Stop stalling," complained the Head Girl, placing her hands on her hips.

"Go ahead, Lex," smirked Eden; "they've been so patient, after all."

"It's glorious fun torturing them," observed Lexi. "But..." she added, as Lily and Alice both opened their respective mouths to shout their objections... "We'll tell them anyway."

"Any time, Lex."

"Well," said Lexi slowly. "If you must..."

"We must..."

"Well... Paul Montreal asked me out."

"Lexi..." said Lily.

"Si?"

"That counts as earth-shattering!"

"It certainly does!" screeched Alice. She threw her arms around Lexi's neck in a breath-abating hug. "That's... that's wonderful! Perfect! Lovely! Darl... wait... you said 'yes,' right?"

Lexi nodded casually, and Alice continued hugging and praising. Lily looked at Eden, who was grinning. "Did I call that one or what?" the blonde asked victoriously.

"I called it too," Lily reminded her. "Ever since third year."

"Oh, please. I've known since second year _at least_."

"E, you didn't even _know_ Lex till third year."

"Shut up, Lily."

And suddenly (or at least over the course of the next six hours), it seemed that everyone who cared knew that Lexi Shaw was going out with Paul Montreal. The sixth year girls found this both undyingly fascinating and unspeakably unfair. Paul, after all, was handsome, athletic, and very popular, and Lexi, while neither unattractive nor an outcast, was not equal in looks or popularity to Paul's previous girlfriends (Rachel Brossle, for example).

However, while the sixth year girls mourned in jealous rage the loss of an eligible male, anyone who had less selfish motives thought that the Paul and Lexi couple-hood was good, if a little Cinderella-esque. Lily, in addition to believing that Lexi and Paul fancied each other, thought their going out was even better, because of the wrath of the sixth year girls.

The only person that really worried Lily in regards to the situation was Frank Longbottom. Lexi was Frank's ex-girlfriend, and Paul was Frank's best friend. The number of problems that could have arisen was endless. However, a day after Paul and Lexi's "couple-hood" (this was rapidly becoming Lily's favorite word) came about, Alice was able to put the redhead's mind at rest concerning Frank.

"He's happy for them," Alice told her at breakfast. "I was a little worried at first that he would be upset, but honestly, I think he's known as long as everyone else that there was Paul-and-Lexi chemistry." For some reason, Alice did not look as cheerful as Lily would have expected.

"I hope you're right," she said, pulling apart a piece of her orange. "He's had enough bad turns lately. But how come he's not sitting with Paul if he's not mad about it?" Indeed, Frank was sitting not far down the table with Gwen Avarius, a cute fifth year with curly blonde hair and big brown eyes. "Does Frank fancy Gwen, I wonder."

Alice flushed and mumbled something about "how should she know?" before returning to her breakfast. Lily thought she had found the reason for Alice's mood. She also thought that her friend was not a very good actress.

_

* * *

_

"Twenty-nine... thirty..."

Eden's arms gave out under her, and she landed gently, stomach down, on the dormitory floor. With a sigh, the blonde looked up at her redheaded friend, who sat on Alice's bed, flipping through "Teen Witch" casually.

"Lily, I'm a failure," stated Eden, from her spot on the floor.

Lily did not look up from the article on the clothing preferences of singer Iseult Dollywright. "How's that, E?"

"Thirty push-ups. Thirty bloody push-ups!"

"Don't knock that," reprimanded Lily, observing a particularly ugly set of yellow dress robes in the magazine. "_I _do sets of thirty, after all. It's not _that_ pathetic, is it?"

"No, no," said Eden distractedly, getting up and hugging her legs. "It's just, I used to be able to do thirty without breaking a sweat... now my arms are sore!" She had a very disgruntled look on her face.

"Maybe you're just tired," suggested Lily innocently.

"No, no," repeated the blonde. "And how can I be out of shape? I work out more and eat healthier than before! So why am I weaker now?" She let out a sigh of frustration while feeling the muscles in her arms with dissatisfaction.

"Maybe you're just not pushing yourself hard enough," said Lily, putting down the magazine. "Try again, Gorgeous."

Eden shook her head. "No, she said resolutely. "What's the point? But it's just as well. The Quidditch season is almost over and then I'll only need my arms for writing."

"What do you mean?" The Head Girl wanted to know.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Eden looked shocked when Lily shook her head. "Well, I sent in an application and _The Daily Prophet_ accepted me as soon as school's over. I'll be writing."

Lily slid off the bed. "Are you serious? Well, E, that's great!" she leaned over and hugged her friend briefly. "You're going to be a reporter!"

Eden grinned. "We'll see. Dad's in a state, of course. _He_ wanted me to go into the Ministry; 'looks like he's lost both daughters to _The Prophet_. Oi—turn the WWN on, won't you, Red? I need some music. Something to take my mind off this stupid Quidditch match. Merl, Red, I'm nervous."

Lily got up to turn on the radio-esque WWN, which was currently resting on the window seat, where Rachel had left it earlier. "You'll be wonderful as always, E," Lily declared. "Even if you can't do sets of fifty push-ups like you could before." Reaching the WWN, Lily switched it on and the chorus of one of her favorite songs could be heard.

However, while Alex Pendragon's voice sang: _"You had him and I had The Wanderers,"_ over the airwaves, Eden let out a shrill cry and jumped to her feet, covering her ears dramatically. "Turn it off! Turn it off, Lily!"

Lily turned it off resentfully. "I like that song!"

"So do I," said Eden, sitting down on a bed. "But don't you realize who _sings_that song?"

Comprehension dawned on the Head Girl. "Snitch Snatch," she said knowingly.

"Exactly," Eden agreed, with a nod. "_No_ Quidditch."

"No Quidditch," consented Lily.

Unfortunately for Eden, however, Quidditch was all that anyone at Hogwarts seemed to want to eat, breath, or talk. None of the team could so much as walk to classes without either a "Good luck!" from supporters or a "Watch your back!" from the opposition.

The weeks became days, and quicker than anyone could have anticipated, the Quidditch Final was practically upon them. The day before the match was a Friday, but hardly anyone was paying attention to class. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Praedam gave up trying to teach anything and gave everyone seatwork which they were supposed to complete silently. About half the class was actually working on their assignment, and about three students were working on it silently.

Lily, who was sharing a desk with Frank Longbottom, finished most of the class work in the first fifteen minutes or so and devoted the rest of the double period to whispering with either her seatmate or someone else around her.

"So, Frank," she began, after a little while of silence; "Excited?"

"Nervous," was Frank's earnest reply.

"Don't be. If you're rotten, at least there are two other chasers to score for you."

"That's not encouraging."

"If you want encouraging, you shouldn't be sitting with me." Frank laughed, and after a moment of silence, Lily began again: "So are you going out with that cute fifth year girl?"

Her companion looked confused. "What cute fifth year girl?" There was a slight blush in his cheeks.

"Gwen," the redhead reminded him. "Gwen Avarius. You've eaten just about every meal with her for weeks. Are you going out with her, or are you just tampering with her affections?"

"T-t-tampering with her affections?" Frank looked quite frightened merely saying it.

"Calm down!" whispered Lily, smiling. "I was only joking. You're the last person on the planet I would suspect of _that_."

"Well... we're... we're not going out," Frank assured her. "She just always comes and sits by me no matter where I sit at the table, and she's very nice, so I don't want to tell her to move along or something."

Lily grinned. "Do you fancy her?" she asked, conspiratorially.

"Oh, no!"

"Well then who _do_ you fancy?"

Frank looked hesitant.

"Oh, come on! Humor me a bit, won't you? I'm a girl... I need news and I've heard nothing but Quidditch for a month. I love it as much as the next guy, but _really_..."

"Well, I don't really fancy anyone."

The Head Girl sighed. "That's very dull of you, Frank."

"I'm sorry."

"I'll forgive you if you promise to win the match for us tomorrow."

"I can't promise."

"Why not? Everyone else has. I won't hold you to it, I swear."

"I'd still rather not promise. I'm jinxed, y'know."

Lily put an arm around Frank's shoulders. "Mmmm... I believe it. But I think you've only jinxed yourself."

Meanwhile, two rows down, James Potter was having a very dull time. He was about halfway done with his class work, but, then again, he'd only been paying about half of his attention to it. The other half of his attention had been devoted to scribbling notes with Remus, who was sharing the desk with him. The content of the notes was of a sensitive nature, and James didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands. They were writing about the next full moon, which was only a few days away.

Two full moon expeditions this year had already been devoted to the Forbidden Forest (at the request of Mr. Prongs), but James was more eager than ever to try for a third time. With his memories returning, he thought he might be able to find the clearing he had been to with Lily and Peter in September.

Remus slid over the parchment they were writing on, and James read it.

"_C'mon, Prongs. We've already been to the Forest twice this year, and we pretty much explored that place to death in fifth year anyway. Padfoot wants to see if that tunnel near the east wall leads into the castle."_

James sighed and scribbled his response:

"_We can do that next time!"_

Remus's reply took a long time to come back.

"_But we might not be able to. If you guys are too busy with N.E.W.T.s to come to next month, than this will be the last full moon!"_

James looked highly disgruntled, but his friend was right. This could very well be the last full moon that the Marauders spent exploring Hogwarts. Remus returned to his work, and James turned over the parchment. He scribbled a note to Peter on the back:

"_Worms—have any of your memories from the Forest come back? –Prongs"_

The Head Boy placed the note on Peter's desk, which was just next to his own, and signaled for Wormtail to read it as inconspicuously as possible, for he was sharing a desk with a Ravenclaw girl. Wormtail read the note, then dipped his quill into the inkwell and replied hastily:

"_No. None of them. Have yours?"_

James read the note with disappointment, but masked this from the other. He shook his head in response, then, tapping the parchment with his wand once, ignited it instantly. When all that was left of the parchment were a few ashes, he vanished these, and began to work on his assignment with disinterest.

The minutes dragged on, and James, almost finished with the work, grew tired of it. He leaned back in his desk, looking around.

Remus was still working diligently, Peter was trying to get the Ravenclaw girl to "help" him, and Sirius, who was sitting in the desk in front of James, was in avid conversation with his seatmate and girlfriend, Rachel. It was a moment before James realized that the two were arguing in heated whispers, but when he did, he listened in.

Being Sirius's best friend, it was practically his _job _to eavesdrop, after all.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sirius was whispering ferociously to the pretty brunette next to him.

"Oh of course not!" snapped Rachel, also whispering. "You're perfectly innocent as always. And I suppose you haven't pranked Severus Snape _once_ this year, either!"

"I did," was Sirius's reply. "I did when he referred to you as a 'mudblood,' but if you don't want me defending you..."

"Oh yes, right and noble you are!"

"This has nothing to do with Snape," the Marauder returned angrily. "If you've got a problem, say it right out and don't beat around the bush!"

"My problem is _her_!"

"_Who_?" Sirius barked, but James thought it was a lost cause. It was pretty evident to every party about whom Rachel was speaking.

"_You_ know, Sirius Black, don't bother pretending. I think I'm pretty patient with the flirting and all that—it's part of your personality, and I can deal with that. But when you start actually _cheating _on me..."

"I _never..._"

"No? And if I asked _her_ that, would she say the same?"

"As a matter of fact, she..."

"I'm not going to make a big deal out of this, Sirius. Just tell me the truth, and I'll be alright. I'll forgive you..." The confidence in Rachel's brown eyes faded momentarily. "Unless you _want_ to break up..."

"Rach, you've got it all wrong..."

"Tell me the truth, Sirius. That's all it's going to take."

"I never cheat..."

"_The truth, _Sirius."

"I swear it!"

Rachel leaned back in her chair and folded her arms. Sirius, on the other hand, leaned forward, resting his forehead in one hand and running the other through his thick black hair.

"Y'know what," he continued at length, sitting up and facing the girl beside him. "Maybe it's better if we took a break. You won't even _listen_ to me, so why should..."

"Well if that's how you feel about it..."

"It _is_."

"Well fine."

"Alright."

"Great."

A rather geeky looking Ravenclaw boy was sitting alone in the desk diagonally in front of them; Rachel got to her feet, picked up her books, bag, quill, ink, and parchment, and walked over to join the boy, who looked as if he could not believe his luck. Sirius picked up his quill, dipped it in the inkwell, and pretended to be doing the work. James did the same. He figured that that was one conversation Sirius would not have wanted anyone else to be paying attention to.

With a glance at Remus, however, James saw that he was not the only one who noticed. The two Marauders exchanged looks of apprehension, and then started to work again. The class had not been as dull as expected.

Eden Dearborn was sitting in the desk just in front of Lily, and though she had not heard the particulars of the conversation, she could guess, from the pantomime she had _seen_, what had happened. Eden had never liked Rachel, and she had never liked the fact that Sirius and Rachel were going out, but for some reason, she felt nothing short of terrible. In a sorry attempt to take her mind off all this, she turned around quickly and said in a whisper to her best friend: "Do you have the answer to number sixteen?"

Lily noticed her friend's pale complexion, but said nothing. "I couldn't find it, but Lex said it was in the book on page three ninety-two."

Eden nodded, but did not turn around just yet. "Lily," she whispered; "Do you think... well, do you think that I..." She broke off and shook her head in a distracted manner. "Never mind. Thanks for the answer..."

"No, what is it?" Lily asked, curiosity teeming from her.

"Nothing... oh, could I borrow your book? I left mine in the dormitory..."

Lily handed her the book, but as Eden took it, the redhead pressed: "Talk to me, E."

"Nah, never mind. It was nothing. _I swear_." Eden waved a dismissive hand as she turned around and continued to work on her assignment.

Lily sighed; she looked over at Alice, who was sitting in the seat next to her. Sharing the desk with Alice was Eddie Bones, and the Head Girl realized as she saw this that she had not had a proper conversation with _him_ in weeks.

"Hey, Al," Lily whispered to her friend, who looked up from the assignment she was working on. "Can I switch seats with you for a little while? I want to talk to Eddie."

Alice glanced over at Lily's desk partner, then shook her head and continued on her seatwork. Lily looked over her shoulder at where Frank was also doing seatwork, though there was a faint coloration in his cheeks that had not been present before. Lily looked back to Alice, then picked up her quill and scribbled on a spare piece of parchment: "_Are you angry with Frank?"_

She set the parchment on Alice's desk. Alice read it quickly, then replied in her loopy script: _"No, of course not."_

Reading this, Lily wrote back: "_Are you angry with _me_?"_

Alice's response was quick. "_Don't be ridiculous._"

_"Then why won't you sit with Frank?"_

"_I'm sure he doesn't want me to."_

Lily looked over at Frank, rolled her eyes, then looked back over at Alice. "_Who _**wouldn't**_ want you, Al?"_

_"_He_ wouldn't. I have to work, Lily._"

The Head Girl crumpled up the note, shaking her head disbelievingly. Once the evidence was properly disposed of, she peeked over Alice's shoulder; the brunette seemed to be filling in the answer to number twenty. She had been doing just that for the last two minutes.

Lily exhaled dramatically and, propping her elbows on her desk, rested her face in her hands. People were stupid, she decided, and there could be little debate on the matter.

_

* * *

_

The Marauders walked down the corridors Friday evening to a torrent of whispers. James and Sirius were on their way to the last Quidditch practice, and the other two were accompanying them. At the moment, however, Hogwarts seemed to be primarily composed of gossips. The circumstances were still in debate, but the fact that Sirius Black and Rachel Brossle had broken up somehow managed to reach every girl in the school, and the vast majority received the news with absolute glee.

"Can't they find something else to talk about?" grumbled Sirius to his friends, rolling his eyes as a flirty blonde passed by and winked at him. "I don't think it's any of their business, and there are a million more interesting things to twitter on."

"Not to sixth year girls, there aren't," James told them wisely.

"What about Quidditch? A few hours ago there was nothing in the world but Quidditch to them."

"No," corrected Remus; "There was nothing in the world to them but male Quidditch _players_. That's still true, it just so happens that though one of the male Quidditch players got a girlfriend, one male Quidditch player just ditched _his_."

"Lovely for them," barked Sirius. "But there's no reason to queue up in the halls about it."

"I thought you'd be happy about that," mused Peter aloud. "'Seems like something that would brighten your day."

"That's not helpful, Wormtail," James snapped.

Peter mumbled something in reply, but none of the others heard, for they were just coming into the Entrance Hall, where a group of post-dinner students had gathered and were talking quickly and seriously. Sirius grumbled something about "idiot gossips" but James did not think that this conversation was about his friend. Among the group were Lily Evans, Paul Montreal, and Lexi Shaw, all of whom were generally levelheaded.

"What's going on?" the Head Boy asked, stepping forward into the group. At first, everyone was too enthralled in their various conversations to answer, but then, Lily turned and said: "Have you heard the news?"

James shook his head quickly. "No, what news?"

Lily's bright green eyes expressed grave seriousness. "Praedam's been sacked," she murmured.

The Head Boy stared at her for about ten seconds, too surprised to react immediately. He ruffled his hair with one hand and shifted his weight. "Sacked," he repeated presently.

The redhead nodded.

"When? What for?"

Lily shook her head. "Everyone's saying different things about _why_ Dumbledore sacked him, but he did it just this afternoon. We must have had one of his last classes this morning..."

"What are people saying about why he's been sacked?" asked James hastily.

The Head Girl paused and looked about to make sure no one was paying attention to their conversation. "I've heard a lot of things," she said, once satisfied that they were speaking confidentially; "One of the more popular theories I heard—but Merlin knows how reliable it is—is that Praedam was caught trying to steal something."

"Trying to steal something..." repeated James, bewildered.

Lily nodded quickly.

"As in, trying to steal something from another teacher?"

"Well that parts unclear," Lily continued slowly; "But when I was searching his office there were books all about Hogwarts and all the valuables that were here. I can't remember the specifics, but there were prices put on all sorts of things here—the Sorting Hat, a book in the library, a couple of the paintings..."

"You think that's why he took the job of Dark Arts teacher in the first place? To steal from the school?"

"Well he must have had _some_ qualifications," Lily reflected, "or else Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him. But it fits—he acted suspiciously, but he didn't react to _you_ at all, so he couldn't have been a Death Eater, or else he would have known you as the bloke from the forest, and would've had a keen interest in you."

"I don't know," said James, with a bit of a smirk playing on his lips; "Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?"

Lily rolled her eyes, repressing a smile. "Shut up, Potter."

"Jay!"

Redival had arrived and James turned around quickly to speak with her. Lily moved towards Lexi, in order to have a word with her, but did catch a bit of the conversation behind her.

"Jay, is it true what they're saying? Have Sirius and Rach really broken up?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. She had forgotten: Rachel and Redival were best friends. The Head Girl did not wait to hear James's response, but instead moved further into the group of students and listened to what Eddie Bones was saying _he_ had heard concerning Praedam's dismissal.

A minute later, however, James moved away from Redival and said in a loud, authoritative voice: "Gryffindor Quidditch Team, come with me!" Lexi, Paul, Eden, and Sirius were all there and stepped forward immediately. "We have practice now," the Captain reminded them, and they reluctantly followed him out of the Entrance Hall. Out on the pitch, as the team (joined presently by Mackey Simpson and Frank Longbottom) put on their gear, they discussed the news at a whisper.

James put his gear on a short distance away. He did not pay much attention to the others. His mind drifted to his trunk upstairs and what was kept there—two of his most prized possessions: the invisibility cloak and the Marauders' Map. He strapped on his arm guards and a slight grin came over his face. He turned to look at the rest of the team.

"Hurry up. We don't have all night."

The team finished up strapping on their respective protections, and got up.

"Mount."

They did so.

"We're going to start out with individual critiques, which means we're going to..."

"Scrimmage."

"Thanks, Black."

"No problem, Potter." Sirius flashed him a smirk, which James met by rolling his eyes.

"We've all got a lot on our minds right now, I know," the Quidditch Captain continued, with a particular look at his fellow Marauder; "But if we're going to win tomorrow, you're going to have to suck it up and fly right, okay? After that, I really don't give a damn what you do. In the air, everyone."

"Touching speech there, Potter," said Eden, as she kicked off into the air with everyone else.

James mounted his own broom. "I do my best."

The next three hours passed quickly for the Head Boy. As distracted as he was with the various plans and ideas floating through his head, it did not escape him that this would be his last Quidditch practice ever. When he finally called for everyone to land and grab some water, there was an odd feeling inside his chest at the thought that it was for the last time. He shook the feeling. Sentimental was something he was not.

Yet, the team had flown better that night than James thought he had ever seen them fly, and he didn't mind telling them so as they walked back to the castle a little later.

"Thanks, Potter," said Eden with a grin, slinging an arm around his waist, since she couldn't quite reach his shoulders comfortably.

"I'm sweaty," warned the Marauder.

"So am I," Eden replied with a shrug.

The two walked in silence for a moment, but James's mind was very busy. There was a question burning in his mind, but he wasn't sure if it would be alright to ask it. For one thing, he thought it was an effeminate trait to pay attention to gossip, and for another, he thought Eden might be offended, or at least embarrassed. Then again, there were times when she acted more like one of the guys than... say, Redival, and it was generally hard to embarrass Eden Dearborn.

"E," he pressed on, making up his mind.

"Yeah?"

"You've... you heard about Sirius and Rach, right?"

Eden nodded slowly, as if not sure where this conversation was going. James glanced about to make sure none of the other teammates were listening, before continuing: "So, er... did you hear why that was?"

The blonde smirked and rolled her eyes. "I've heard every reason imaginable, James—from Sirius dumping her because she wouldn't sleep with him (which I highly doubt), to Rachel dumping _him_ because he's secretly married to a witch from Austria (which I also doubt, though it seems more likely than the other)."

James grinned awkwardly. "Well... er... they broke up in the middle of Defense Against the Dark Arts, actually," he said uncomfortably. "I was sitting behind them."

"Alright...?"

"So, I sort of heard the argument."

"James Potter, you gossip." And yet, while she said it, James could tell that she was secretly eager for him to tell her all he'd heard.

"I wouldn't tell usually," he assured her hastily; "but, I wanted to ask you about it." Through the dark, he could see Eden's features grow stony, or perhaps merely a little worried. He did not continue on immediately, as he was still unsure of exactly what he was going to say.

"Well, go on," Eden eventually pressed.

"I don't believe it, E. Honest I don't—but..." And he thought he was an absolute cad for saying it— "...I wanted to know for sure."

"What is it, James?" Her voice was surprisingly understanding and nonjudgmental.

"Rach thinks Sirius was cheating on her."

Eden paused. "With me?" she added, after a shortly lived silence.

James nodded.

"Well I'll tell you," Eden said, breathing heavily; "I didn't."

The Quidditch Captain gave a barely audible sigh of relief. He didn't need anymore convincing. "Thank-you."

Eden grinned as she said: "For what? For telling you, or for not being with Sirius?"

"Either. Both."

She laughed a little, and another silence of short duration followed. "You're sweet, y'know James," the girl told him at length, shaking her head. "I don't know why you pretend to be such a git sometimes."

James shrugged. "Well there you go. You're not really a slut and I'm not really a git. Such is life."

Eden withdrew her arm as they reached the castle. "I've got to run," she said cheerily, though there was an odd, indefinable note in her voice; "I don't want Lexi to beat me to the good shower! See you tomorrow..."

And with that, she hurried on. James hung back with the rest of the team.

"What was that about, Prongs?" Sirius wanted to know, as he fell into pace with his fellow Marauder.

"Just catching up... haven't talked to her in forever. She wanted to say thanks and all that for the coffee thing."

"She's only done that seventeen and a half times, right?"

James grinned and he walked with the rest of the team up to the dormitory. An hour later, he was clean (having argued for ten minutes with Sirius over shower preferences) and dry. However, he waited until Sirius had climbed into his four-poster bed and closed the curtains before he himself changed from the towel wrapped around his waist into actual clothes.

He did not get his nightclothes from the dresser, but rather pulled out blue jeans and a "Snitch Snatch" t-shirt. From his trunk, James obtained the silvery invisibility cloak and the apparently blank parchment that was the Marauders' Map. Once dressed, he climbed into his bed and shut the curtains around him. All he had now to do was wait.

Paul and Frank came from the showers presently, and once James was sure they were in bed and probably dosing, he (as quietly as possible) opened the hangings around him and climbed out of bed. He pulled the invisibility cloak over him and walked slowly out of the room. He was not afraid of Remus or Peter finding out he had gone when they came to bed, for they would most likely assume he had gone to sleep early and would not bother to check.

The Common Room was busy, for it was only about half past ten, but every member of the Quidditch team was noticeably absent. Many of the other Gryffindors were occupying themselves with the construction of signs for the next day. One of the largest signs was propped against the wall near the corner of the room, and it simply bore the word (in bold black writing): "Potter" with a small golden snitch drawn on the "O." Redival and Remus were arguing about it.

"But don't you think we could... embellish it... a little?" Redival pouted, folding her arms.

Remus sighed. "It doesn't _need_ any embellishment, Redival! That's all that needs to be said: 'Potter.' That's it. It's all-encompassing!"

James grinned and continued through the room, glancing at the other signs as he passed. Everyone was so absorbed in their own occupations that they did not notice the portrait hole open a little as the invisible James snuck out. The Fat Lady did call out "Who's there?" a few times, but James did not answer.

He crept down the corridor. When he was a safe distance away, the Head Boy sat down next to a suit of armor and pulled out the folded Marauders' Map from his pocket. He also withdrew his wand, tapped the parchment once, and muttered: "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

It occurred to James, as the lines of ink spread across the parchment, that he wasn't sure if that statement was true or not. Once the map was completely formed, James scanned it with his eyes for signs of anyone in the area. The corridors were empty tonight, which James—as a frequent wanderer—knew to be rare. Even Filch and his nasty cat Mrs. Norris were absent, and he honestly couldn't remember the last time that was true.

He scanned the usual rooms to see where everyone who usually made sneaking about a challenge had gone. No one was in McGonagall's office, and even Dumbledore was absent from _his_. James checked the staff room and saw a collection of black dots all labeled with the names of his professors.

He grinned a little and tapped the map with his wand, muttering: "Mischief managed!"

Once the Marauders' Map was back in his pocket, blank again, James got to his feet. As he did so, however, he noticed the invisibility cloak was caught on the suit of armor he had ducked behind. Swearing under his breath, James slipped out from under it and began to work on detaching it.

However, just as he found where it was stuck, James heard a noise from somewhere down the corridor. He looked over his shoulder quickly. There was no one there, but the sound of footsteps sounded from around a corner.

James swore once again, pushed the invisibility cloak under the suit of armor, hoping no one would notice it, and then hurried in the other direction down the corridor. There were no closets in which to hide in that particular strip, but James knew the broom closets in the area fairly well, and happened to remember one in an adjacent passageway. He swerved hastily, but stopped at the corner. He peered around the edge and saw a dark figure that might have been Filch a short distance away.

"Shit, shit, shit," whispered James to himself. "He was in his _office_... how'd he get here so fast?"

But there was no time to speculate on that, for the Maybe-Filch figure was approaching. James spun around and hastened down the corridor until he came to a broom closet just on the other side of an old stone statue. He ducked inside and shut the door as quietly as possible.

He held his ear to the door for a moment, listening to the approaching footsteps. It sounded as if whoever it was had a limp. Filch.

James drew his wand and pointed it at the door, muttering a locking spell. Then, he turned around to survey his surroundings. It was as he reeled around that he realized he was not alone. Sitting on a box of Magical Mess Remover, was the pretty but currently supercilious figure of Lily Evans.

"Holy Shit!" swore James once more, jumping back, evidently startled at the sight of her.

"Well hello to you too," replied Lily at a whisper, rolling her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" James inquired venomously, lowering his voice and stepping closer.

"Nothing," she answered, a little too quickly.

James raised an eyebrow. "Waiting for someone?" he teased, as he took a seat next to her on the crate.

_"No._"

"Oh, of course not. After all, who would want to closet with you?"

"You apparently, as you've taken up stalking me."

"I wasn't stalking you, I was running from Filch. How was I to know you lived in a broom closet? I love what you've done with the place, by the way—could be a little roomier, but the bigger models are selling for a ridiculous amount these days. "

"You could have knocked."

"You're joking, right?"

They waited in silence. The footsteps were still progressing down the corridor.

"And for your information," Lily added presently; "I have been invited to 'closet' as you so elegantly put it, on many occasions."

"Oh yeah, by who?"

"Well for start... no. Absolutely _not_."

"What? Ashamed, are you?" joked the Head Boy. "Who tried to get you into a broom closet? Geoff Haskell?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Dan Mash?"

"_Potter_..."

"Oh, I know! Snape!"

Lily just looked at him, and James had to exercise a great deal of self-control in order to stop himself from keeling over with laughter. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, though," James continued at length. "Who's asked you? Well, besides Johnny Sharp, of course."

Lily sent him a withering glare. "James, thanks to you, Johnny Sharp didn't speak two words to me until fifth year, when he decided that I had friends and a body enough to tempt him once again."

"Did you go out with him?" the Head Boy asked, a little too curiously.

"Are you joking? After that bastard stood me up? Of course not! But it's still you're fault. I mean, if we had gone out in second year, I might have fallen in love and _married _that bloke!"

James couldn't stop himself this time. He burst out into almost quiet laughter. Lily rolled her eyes again and pointed her wand at the door.

"What was that?" James asked, recovering quickly.

"So whoever is out there won't here you dying in _here_."

James grinned. "You would have _married_ Jonathon Sharp?"

"Well, who knows? I might have reformed him... he's quite good-looking."

"Priss."

"Sod off."

"Well don't blame me because Sharp didn't think you were well-equipped enough to go out with."

Lily scoffed disbelievingly. "Potter, don't be stupid. You and I both know it was you who told Johnny some lie about me in order to get him to stand me up!"

"I did not!" defended James.

"You _did_. You as much as admitted it to me, James. Don't bother lying now... I've practically forgotten."

"I _didn't_!"

"You did!"

"I didn't!"

"You did!"

"I didn't!"

"You did!"

"I didn't!"

"You di... have the footsteps stopped?"

James paused to listen as well. The footsteps had all but vanished; they were growing fainter and fainter by the moment.

"Well there you go," said James wisely. "But you still haven't told me what you're doing in here."

"Nothing!"

James gave her a look. "You realize you're in a broom closet, right?"

"Well," began Lily slowly; "if you _must_ _know_, I was hiding too."

"From...?"

"Footsteps. Probably yours, now that I think about it."

"And what was our respectable Head Girl doing wandering about _after hours_?"

"Same thing you are, I'd wager," snapped Lily. "Praedam's been fired... _something _is going on."

James did not say anything at first, and when he did speak, it was seemingly unrelated: "Light up your wand, will you..." he said, pulling out the map from his pocket. Lily did so, and watched curiously as James tapped the parchment with his wand, muttering as he did so: "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

"What's..." began the Head Girl, but James shushed her.

"Just watch..." he muttered, as the lines branched out, forming the map again.

"It's a map," observed Lily, awestruck. James nodded. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," the redhead continued to read. "That's you and Sirius and Remus and Peter, isn't it?"

"Not in that order, but yeah."

"What do those names mean, anyway?"

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Lily rolled her eyes. "'The Marauders' Map,'" she quoted. "Well, what are we going to do with it?"

But James wasn't listening. He was searching the map more carefully than before, until he came to the spot where he and Lily were.

"Oh my Merlin..." whispered Lily, but still James paid no attention. "That's... that's where we are... that's us!"

James was tracing the corridor outside with his finger, until he found the black dot he was looking for. It was the dot that signified whoever had been outside just moments before. It wasn't Filch. The dot was labeled with a name James didn't know.

"Who's... _Donavan Gracechurch_?" Lily asked, voicing James's question.

The Head Boy shrugged. "I don't know... but I have an idea. C'mon."

He unlocked the door, and glancing about to make sure that the corridor was indeed deserted (more out of habit than anything else, for the map had told it to be so), pulled Lily's wrist after him into the open. Lily followed, struggling with James's hand, but he did not pay any attention to this.

"James, let go!" whispered the redhead angrily.

"Shut up. C'mon!"

James led at a sprint down the corridor, till they came to the corner. He stopped and glanced at the map again. The only dot in the hallway was still "Donavan Gracechurch" and he—whoever he was—was walking farther and farther away. James released Lily and nodded for her to follow him, which she did, rolling her green eyes.

They moved quickly but quietly, glancing at the map every once in a while to make sure the mysterious Mr. Gracechurch was still moving forward. Soon, they were all but caught up with him. Still, all they could see was his back, and there was nothing recognizable about that, especially in the dimly lit corridor.

When the two paused in their pursuit as the other stopped suddenly at a split, Lily was hit with impatience and inspiration. She lifted her foot, which was shoed in black go-go boots and tapped the wall with her heel. The sound echoed, but Lily very quickly pulled James around a corner.

She peered ever so slightly around the edge of the wall and could see the figure turning around and coming closer.

Lily waved at James violently, hoping to get him to leave, but he would not comply.

"Who is it?" he mouthed.

Lily shook her head to signal she didn't know, then, very cautiously, peeked around the corner once more. This time, she caught sight of the stranger's face. She gasped. With no time to fill James in (for he was coming closer by the moment), she grabbed _his_ wrist, and pulled him as she fled quickly back. There was a marble statue of a goblin, which Lily ducked behind, dragging James with her.

As they sat there, huddled behind a statue, James hit her shoulder and sent her a questioning look. Lily shook her head again, this time impatiently, then glanced around the goblin's ears to see what the situation was. The other was standing at the corner, peering down. He remained there for a moment, then turned around and continued in the other direction.

Lily sighed in relief.

"Who was it?" whispered James, unable to contain himself.

The Head Girl leaned back against the wall.

"It was Praedam."

James's eyes widened. He pulled the still visible map from his pocket, where he'd placed it moments before, and studied it for a second, before finding their location and that of Praedam—alias Donavan Gracechurch. Or vice versa...

"What's _he_ doing here?" Lily wondered at a whisper.

James shrugged.

"Maybe," began the Head Girl presently, as James monitored the ex-Professor's movements from the map; "he was just getting his things from his office."

"Maybe," agreed James; "but if that's the case, why was he was heading _away_ from his office empty handed?" Lily could not find an answer to this, so she joined in the observation. "Merlin, where are you going?" James whispered to the dot, as it took a little-used staircase to the second floor.

"Oh my... look, James!" muttered Lily, pointing to the staff room, where the other teachers were beginning to scatter. But James saw also what Lily was looking at. Professor Silth was moving especially quickly away from the room, but he was not heading upward towards his own office, but down the corridor, towards the stair that led to the Entrance Hall.

Silth did not go into the Entrance Hall, however. Instead, he veered off into a narrow corridor. Praedam—or Gracechurch—had meanwhile landed on the second floor, and, by no coincidence (as far as James was concerned), was in the same corridor as Silth.

James and Lily exchanged looks, then turned their watch back to the map.

Silth and Praedam had moved into an unused classroom and were apparently having a conversation in there.

"What do you think they're doing?" Lily murmured. James raised his eyebrows at her. "That's _not_ what I meant."

"Hey, you never know... maybe Silth's his bitch or something."

"James, that is completely like something you'd say."

"Well I just said it, didn't I?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Lily sighed and added after a minute of silence: "Well, what now?"

James leaned back against the stone wall. "I don't know. We could wait... see where they go..."

"That could take all night," the redhead pointed out. "And don't you _dare_ make that perverted."

"Me? Perverted?"

"Shock of the century, I know..."

"Can't even imagine why you'd think of it."

"We could tell Dumbledore."

"That you called me perverted?"

"_No_, you git, about all of this..."

James hesitated. "He just fired Praedam," the Head Boy said slowly. "Chances are he found out that Praedam wasn't Praedam."

"What about Silth? He might not know about Silth..."

"Dumbledore knows more of what goes on in this school than anyone else... you and me included." Lily looked at James curiously. "What?"

"Nothing," Lily stated quickly. "It's just... you're probably the last person I would expect to admit that."

James didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing, but looked down at the map. "Well... yeah... so, what do you think?"

"I think... I think we should..." Lily broke off, then continued on a different note. "Potter, have any of your memories from the forest come back?"

The question took James off guard. The honest (_completely honest_) answer was yes. He had had glimpses over the past few weeks of different spots in the forest—a tree here and a clearing there—but nothing concrete. Things he had discovered to be true in Dumbledore's office (the discovery of the Death Eater's wand, for example) still had not manifested themselves in his head.

"No," he said finally, and he wasn't sure why he was lying to her, except that he didn't want to tell anyone anything until he had all the facts. "Have yours?"

"Some of them," Lily admitted. "Not all of them, though. There are still some kind of big gaps... but a lot of the little things I can remember now. I mean, I can remember losing my shoes on the platform, and the whole image of the forest is a lot clearer in my head..."

"But you don't... you don't remember who actually did the erasing?"

Lily shook her head. "No, but I plan to go to Dumbledore the second I remember that."

"Why not before?"

"Well," said Lily, sounding a little embarrassed; "honestly, I'm a little afraid he'll try to extract it from me—and if not him, people from the Ministry. I wouldn't mind the risk of permanently losing my mind if it weren't that the other memories have come back by themselves, so maybe that one will too. I know it sounds stupid, but..."

"Dumbledore wouldn't try to force anything," James said thoughtfully. "But maybe that Korcesh bloke would, if he found out."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Anyway, unless you have _another_ map, which can tell us what those two..." she nodded at the dots of Silth and Gracechurch "...are saying, then we should probably get back to the Common Room."

"Sadly, this is the only Marauder map there is." James got to his feet, and Lily followed the suit. They walked back towards the Common Room in relative silence, but James stopped at the suit of armor where he'd left the invisibility cloak.

Lily eyed it, then glanced up at James. "An invisibility cloak," she stated; it was not a question, but James nodded (a very little bit guiltily). She shook her head. "A _Marauder_—I should have known."

_

* * *

_

"And here we are at the final match of the Quidditch Season—the inter-house Quidditch Cup: Gryffindor verses Slytherin! What a match!"

Eddie Bones was born to be a commentator, James thought as he strapped on his arm guards and listened to Eddie's words from inside the Gryffindor locker room. They had about five more minutes until the team was to fly out for the warm up, and nerves were high among the seven Gryffindor players. James turned from his solitude and looked around at his team.

Paul was pacing on the opposite end of the room, looking nervous but driven. Lexi was sitting down, looking a little paler than usual, but also looking excited. At least, she looked excited to the extent that Lexi ever showed emotion. James glanced over at Frank, who looked decently composed, considering he was usually a bundle of nerves. He seemed to be muttering instructions to himself under his breath. Mackey Simpson just looked thrilled to be there, and James had to admire his excellent Quidditch nerves. Eden was handling her anxiety in a manner that was not usual for her. Instead of being noisy or hyper, she simply stood in a corner, looking thoughtful.

James glanced over at Sirius, who was sitting down also, but his forehead was resting in his hands. The Captain walked over to his best friend and sat down beside him.

"You ready?" he murmured.

Sirius nodded, but did not look up.

"You sure?"

Again, Sirius nodded.

"Good, because if we're going to win, you can't sit here feeling sorry for yourself."

Sirius looked up.

"I'm not kidding," James continued seriously. "We're going to need you playing your absolute best game possible. Alright?"

Sirius's mouth turned into a slight grin. "Aye, aye, Cap."

James grinned as well. "Ready, guys?" he said, loudly to everyone else in the room. Everyone looked up, and James rose. "Alright," he continued, in his best pre-game-speech voice. "This is it: the last game of the season. Are we ready?"

"Yeah," the others chorused, a little lamely.

James paused. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said, as if he hadn't heard them. "Did you guys say something? Or didn't you hear me? _Are we ready_?" He gave them his most lethal looking stare.

"Yeah!" This was much louder.

"_Are we ready?_"

"_Yeah!"_

"ARE WE READY?"

"YEAH!"

"Then hurry the hell up and get your stuff."

The other six rummaged a bit for their brooms, but when they were ready, James walked up to the curtain that was still between them and the field outside. The others lined up in their formation in front of him.

"Alright then. Any time," muttered Sirius, and James wondered if he had the same excited ache in his chest.

"Aaaand..." came Eddie's voice, "the Gryffindor team!"

"That's you, Twenty-two..."

The already mounted Paul Montreal kicked off and flew out of the tent, onto the field, followed almost instantly by Sirius, then Eden, then Frank, then Lexi, and finally Mackey. James waited for Eddie to say "Aaaand..." once more, before kicking off, as Eddie's voice shouted his name "Potter!" and the Gryffindor supporters roared in recognition of the Captain and Seeker.

He followed Mackey in the formation flight twice around the stadium, and then, while the rest of the team (except Paul, who, being Keeper, went to the goals) circled up high in the sky, James landed on the ground, across from where the Slytherin Captain Mortimer Zabini had already landed. Jivé, the sports director and flight teacher, walked up to the two and ordered in his cool voice: "Shake hands, Captains."

James and Zabini gripped each other's hand very quickly, each doing his very best to inflict as much pain as possible on the other. Then the two stepped back.

"Captains mount," said Jivé shortly.

The Captains mounted their brooms and flew back into their respective spots in formation. Jivé kicked open the crate that carried the balls and the two bludgers flew out. Next, Jivé opened a smaller compartment and out flew the golden snitch. Finally, the sport director picked up the large, red quaffle, and clearly mustering all his strength, threw it high into the air.

The Chasers immediately broke formation, all six hurrying towards the Quaffle. Frank was easily the closest of the Gryffindor chasers, so Lexi and Mackey broke off and moved towards the wings to open up for a pass. Unfortunately, Zabini, who was a Chaser, got to the Quaffle first and took possession.

James automatically glanced at Sirius, who was heading for a bludger to send at the Chaser, and then at Eden who was doing the same much farther away. The Captain swore as Zabini made a rather exceptional pass to fellow Chaser and only girl on the team, Olivia Malfoy, who caught it and headed towards the hoops. Lexi was on her in a moment, at the very least deterring her from flying smoothly, and Sirius sent the bludger towards her a moment later.

Apparently seeing her plight, Olivia looped under Lexi and threw the ball towards the third Chaser on the team, Boris Montague. But Frank was quicker. He intercepted the Quaffle in mid-pass, and swerved, missing a bludger, before beginning the treacherous flight towards the opposing team's hoops.

James looked away quickly, not wanting to get sucked in. He rose higher into the sky and began flying over the rest of the game, in search of the snitch. He flew only in certain parts of the sky where the sun would most likely catch the light of the snitch. The Slytherin seeker, Delano Crouch, was not far off and had adopted the strategy that many of the other house's Seekers followed—tail James.

The Gryffindor Seeker had, however, trained himself very specifically not to pay attention to the other seeker beyond making sure that he had not caught sight of the Snitch. He turned his broom around and began to fly lower, listening to a bit of Eddie's commentary.

"Shaw with the Quaffle—Shaw to Longbottom—Longbottom to... no, Longbottom keeps it, dodges a bludger... dodges the other bludger... dodges the Beater, Horrowitz... passes back to Shaw—to Simpson... and Simpson scores! Ten to zero, Gryffindor!"

Mackey did a quick victory lap before returning to the game.

James kept look out for the snitch.

"Keeper Yaxley passes the ball to Montague... Montague up the field... pass to Zabini... to Malfoy... Malfoy up the field... oooh, a bludger from Dearborn of Gryffindor but... Malfoy dodges—she still has possession and... whoa! A nicely aimed bludger from Black—Malfoy loses the Quaffle... and... air ball—c'mon chasers... Shaw gets... no! Foul! Foul!"

Eddie had completely lost any unbiased tone he might have maintained before then, but James had to agree. Zabini had regained the Quaffle for Slytherin, but at the cost of an obvious foul to Lexi. Instead of grabbing for the Quaffle, he had grabbed for the front of Lexi's broomstick, trying to throw it off course. That had not been the smartest thing for _him, _for broomsticks were dangerous at times, but while he had been thrown slightly away, Lexi had been sent spinning out of control.

Jivé's whistle sounded, and Zabini relinquished the Quaffle to Lexi, who took the penalty. James did not wait and watch for what happened (he found this to be bad luck), but instead did a fly-by, in search of the snitch. Crouch, he noticed was doing the same thing, some twenty feet higher.

Lexi scored, and the game reset again,

Zabini got the Quaffle in a rather good pass form Yaxley, and, dodging Eden's bludger and Frank himself, zoomed towards the Gryffindor hoops.

"Zabini down the field... still going, fakes to Malfoy and passes... no, he fakes again and... ah shit... scores. Twenty, ten, Gryffindor!"

The Slytherin supporters cheered but James did not pay attention.

"Watch the fakes, Twenty-Two!" he shouted to Montreal, who nodded quickly. "Chasers—some defense would be nice!" the Captain added to the three players this applied to.

Frank got the quaffle and did a very nice dodge of Montague that James had remembered reviewing just the evening before. He got rid of the quaffle in a quick pass-off to Mackey, who then hurled it a risky distance to Lexi, who managed to grab it just before Zabini could intercept. She dodged a bludger, pushing her a little out of the way, but avoided having the quaffle stolen by Malfoy, who was attacking viciously.

Eddie Bones screamed for a foul, but Jivé would not hear it.

"No foul, no foul!" he cried to a protesting James.

Irritated at this loss, but glad Lexi maintained possession, he did a fly-by over the stands, partially to look for the snitch, but mostly because it brought attention to himself, and that would at least momentarily distract Crouch as Seeker, as well the two Slytherin Beaters, Harley and McMillan.

Lexi, having survived Olivia Malfoy, passed the quaffle to Frank, and as she did so, James caught sight of the snitch, flying near where Frank had received. Seeing the snitch sent an automatic thrill through James, but he knew he could not get it yet. It was too early, and they were not up by enough points to win the cup yet.

He had to make sure Crouch did not find the snitch now.

James bent forward on his broom, pushing it faster than before, and dipped into a neat, none-too-drastic dive, that would appear legitimate but not showy. Crouch was on his tail in an instant, and then slowly gaining on him. He was almost shoulder-to-shoulder with him, when the Slytherin let out a scoff that tempted James to look back, though he refrained.

"You haven't seen the snitch!" taunted Crouch's voice. "You're faking!"

The Slytherin elbowed James in the ribs, causing the Gryffindor to veer off course, as he himself smoothly rose higher. Paul Montreal screamed for a foul, but in doing so lost focus for a fraction of a second. Zabini shot the Quaffle in the left hoop, and Paul dived just too late. Slytherin scored, tying the game.

James did not say anything to Paul, as the Keeper reset and passed the quaffle to Lexi, who immediately tipped it over to a very open Mackey. The Seeker was too irritated with himself for allowing himself to be caught in an unconvincing feint. Though he had distracted Crouch long enough for the snitch to disappear from it's obvious spot in the middle of the pitch, he had not been good enough to avoid the foul, which Jivé had not called.

The Gryffindor Captain, now flying stably, did a lower sweep of the stadium, watching Crouch more intently than he looked for the Snitch. They had to be fifty points up before he could catch it, or they would win the match, but lose the Cup, something he did _not_ want to happen. He did a fancy-looking, but actually simple, flip as he passed in front of the Gryffindor stands, causing the spectators there to cheer. As he did this, he caught sight of Silth, sitting with the staff not far off. James forced himself to concentrate on the game.

Crouch was flying higher, trying to distract Eden, but to no success, as she had just dived in between Lexi and a bludger, in an attempt to protect the chaser, who currently had possession.

Lexi was now close to the rings and made a rather nice shot towards the center one, but Yaxley saved it just in time. James swore under his breath, but, leaning forward on his broom, flew towards Crouch. As the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Slytherin Seeker's attention, Yaxley threw the quaffle to Olivia Malfoy, who passed it almost immediately to Zabini. He was zooming towards the Gryffindor rings at top speed. The bludger Eden sent towards him missed, and when Sirius regained control of the same ball and hit it again towards Zabini, the Chaser managed to swerve just in time.

A second later, he shot the quaffle towards the left ring.

Paul, who had been cheating right, tried to make the save, but too late.

"Zabini scores, bringing the score to thirty to twenty, Slytherin!" came Eddie voice, much louder than James would have liked, though the announcer did not sound too thrilled. "Montreal passes out to Simpson, who passes to Shaw, to Longbottom, back to Simpson, to... ah shit—sorry, Professor—Simpson intercepted by Zabini, who takes it back and... my bloody Merlin! Zabini scores again!"

Slytherin screamed. James shut his eyes briefly, opened them, then flew over to Jivé. He muttered something to the referee, who nodded briefly and blew his whistle. "Time out!"

James then flew over towards Paul at the goals. The rest of the team congregated there presently, and Jivé, with a wave of his wand, froze the bludgers in mid-air. Paul had the Quaffle.

When the team had gathered, James waited some ten seconds to say anything. This was for effect, but he could not wait much longer, for they only had forty-five seconds to talk.

"I'll be mad if we lose to Slytherin," he said at length; "but I'll beyond mad... I'll be beyond _infuriated..._ in fact, I'll probably lose my _mind_, if we lose to _Zabini_ alone! What the hell is your problems, guys? Eden, you haven't hit one person the whole game... every other beater on the pitch right now has stronger arms than you, but you've got better accuracy; I know it for a fact. Start playing like it! Sirius, you're next to useless right now... get your mind on the game. Montreal—don't cheat so much; you're flying more or less terribly, so unless you can start moving—y'know—_quickly_: _stay center_. All of the Chasers, watch the passes! Yours, theirs... watch them! Now c'mon, guys. Let's play _Quidditch, _not whatever the hell game you're attempting! Alright, Gryffindor on three—one, two, three..."

"Gryffindor!" everyone chorused, sounding determined.

They flew out, just as Jivé blew his whistle to signify the end of the time out. Paul took the Quaffle and made a strong pass to Lexi, who, dodging Olivia Malfoy, swerved and made her way up field.

James exhaled and, beginning a slow and low course around the stadium, looked about for Crouch once more. He spotted him near the Gryffindor hoops, and the Captain's heart skipped a beat when he saw what he was doing. He was moving very quickly and determinedly—he'd seen the snitch.

James saw it too—it was about fifty feet ahead of Crouch, but the Seeker was gaining on it quickly. James swerved upwards, dodging a bludger almost unintentionally, until he caught up with the Slytherin. For a moment, Crouch did not seem to notice that James was in hot pursuit, but when he was almost shoulder-to-shoulder with him, it was impossible _not_ to notice.

Crouch tried to knock him out of the way, but James steered his broom downward so that he was flying just below his opponent. Crouch, slightly off course, did not have time to attack further, for he had to keep his eyes on the Snitch. James did not have that disadvantage. He did not even have to catch it, as long as the other seeker did not.

The Gryffindor rose again so that he was flying next to Crouch, who looked infuriated.

"You won't have this one!" he screeched, again trying to shoulder James out of the way. James swerved away from defensive tactic and leaned forward a little further on his broom. He sped up and brought his broom just slightly in front of Crouch's, so that it would count as a cut-off, and not as blatching.

Crouch had to swerve with him to avoid hitting him, but James was already flying forward towards the snitch. Crouch was on him in an instant, keeping very close to James.

"You can't catch it!" shouted the Slytherin; "If you do, you'll lose the cup! You and I both know it!"

"Thanks for telling me!" James shouted back, carefully moving so that he was very close indeed to the Slytherin; "actually I didn't know!" This was, of course, a lie, but it distracted the other for a moment. "I saw your girlfriend in the crowd over there, Crouch. She looked like she was getting awfully comfortable with Snape! 'Half expected them to start shagging right there..."

Angry, Crouch elbowed the very close James in the stomach, and the whistle sounded. Jivé had called the foul. Crouch was forced to stop.

"That," said James to Crouch, as Lexi took the Quaffle for the penalty, "is called 'cobbing.' It's a foul. Look it up."

Lexi scored the penalty, and James was surprised to hear that that brought the score to Gryffindor forty, Slytherin thirty. Evidently, the Chasers had been busy in the last few minutes. Gryffindor supporters cheered as Yaxley took the Quaffle for the reset. James glanced about at the crowd. His eyes, once more, fell on Silth in the staff area.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. His heart skipped a beat again, but this time for an utterly thrilling reason. Silth.

Last night, he'd seen Silth on the Marauder's Map; however, he had seen him as "Damien Silth" not as "Michael Anything"... his name _couldn't_be Michael... the Marauder's Map was _always_ right. So why did Professor Grossman think it was?

But no, this was not the time to think about that. He had a Quidditch game to finish.

Yaxley passed the Quaffle to Montague. James thought quickly—he needed another few seconds to speak with his Chasers. He spotted Crouch not far off, looking for the snitch once more, and inspiration hit. But he needed for them to be at least twenty points up before he'd dare do it...

As if in an answer to his private prayer, Eden and Sirius—in a rather lovely demonstration (James thought) of the dopplebeater defense—hit one of the bludgers towards Montague, who tried to somehow roll away from the bludger, but ended up nearly falling off the broom and dropping the quaffle. Mackey was under him in a minute and caught the quaffle, passing it immediately to Frank, who brought it up the field.

He had scored a moment later.

James allowed himself a cheer, and Slytherin reset once more.

Montague had the Quaffle now, and James took the opportunity. He sped up to fall into flight with Crouch. Once next to him, he sped up a little more, which Crouch took as an opportunity to imitate.

"What are you doing?" he snapped to James.

The Gryffindor grinned, and glanced over his shoulder. Eddie was shouting his speculation that maybe the Seekers had seen the snitch, as they were apparently speeding up together. James looked at his Chasers, and sent each of them looks that seemed to say "keep scoring."

None of the three stopped to watch the snitch race, but did as they were instructed.

Then, James glanced around to find Jivé. He was watching them.

James grinned.

"This, Crouch," he said, turning to face forward again; "is called 'skinning.' Look it up." At that moment, he swerved his broomstick very quickly so that he collided with Crouch, before the other could move.

Jivé's whistle sounded, but James was far from annoyed. He glanced over at Paul, who looked prepared to stop Zabini's penalty shot.

"Slag!" shouted Crouch after him, but James was already flying towards his Chasers. All three gathered around them as Zabini flew closer to goals to take the shot.

"Mackey," said James to the Chaser, in a very rushed voice; "can you do a reverse pass?"

"Er..."

"Great. This is what we do..." Jivé was flying towards Zabini, carrying the Quaffle... "When Mackey has the quaffle, you two drop back. Lexi flies higher; Frank flies below her. Mackey does a reverse pass to Lex, who draws a defensive Chaser, and then does the Porskoff Ploy to Frank. Got it?"

"Right."

"Sure."

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

Zabini missed.

At least, Paul managed to spot the feint on Zabini's part, and saved the shot from going in. Mackey opened up left, and Paul passed it to him. Olivia Malfoy almost intercepted, but Mackey got there first. He immediately sped up field, bringing Malfoy with him. She tried to cut him off, but just as she did, Mackey threw the quaffle over his shoulder in a rather lovely reverse pass.

Lexi caught it, and Zabini was on her in a minute. She was swerving left and right as it was to avoid the bludgers, but the second Zabini tried to take the Quaffle from her, she darted upwards, and Zabini followed. Then, the Gryffindor dropped the Quaffle down to Frank, who caught it and zoomed right up to the opposing goals.

Yaxley, who had only just realized that Lexi no longer had the Quaffle was caught off guard, and Frank scored in the center ring.

James sighed in relief. Two more goals and they would be up by fifty; if he caught the snitch then, they would win the Cup.

Five minutes later, they had used the maneuver two more times, and they had the goals. James was flying high up, in search of the snitch.

"Gryffindor in the lead, seventy to twenty... Yaxley passes to Zabini... Zabini with the Quaffle... ouch! Zabini's been hit by a bludger from Black but... he still has the quaffle! Zabini heads downfield... a pass to Montague... pass back to Zabini... pass to Malfoy... pass to Montague... bludger from Black _and_ Dearborn... Montague loses the Quaffle and... picked up by Longbottom... Longbottom... okay, Longbottom is hit by a bludger and Malfoy has possession... Malfoy heads downfield... dodges Mackey Simpson and... damn it! Er... that is, _darn lovely pass_ to Zabini who heads towards the goals... dodges Black's bludger... dodges Lexi... dodges Simpson... whoa, okay... he's close. Montreal will have a time blocking... he shoots and... no it's fake... Montreal doesn't fall for it though... Zabini is well within the scoring zone, he... he's close and... if he scores, then Gryffindor will have to... oh my Merlin he's shoots and... oh Merlin! A gorgeous Bludger Backbeat from Dearborn... Zabini misses and..."

Eddie was interrupted by Jivé's whistle.

"Er... referee is calling something, I'm not sure what but..."

Jivé was waving his hands about dramatically shouting something.

"He's... he's calling game," said Eddie, bewildered. "I'm not sure why, but... oh. Oh. OH!" And suddenly everyone seemed to have noticed that one of the Seekers was waving something about in his hand and that that something was the small golden ball, and the whole thing ended in a mass of chaos.

James had caught the snitch.

_

* * *

_

"Drinks all 'round!"

Sirius reappeared with a great multitude of butterbeer and food, and everyone in the Gryffindor Common Room was groping for a bottle a moment later.

Remus tossed Lily one, and she smiled at him.

"Hey there, handsome," she said, as he came over to her. "Great match, huh?"

"Intense," agreed Remus, opening his bottle. The two struggled to get out of the mesh of people and to find a good corner. Once sitting comfortably in chairs, they began a conversation.

"So... we won," said Lily, a little awkwardly.

"Thank God."

"I know," laughed the redhead. "I could _not _have faced Slytherin if we hadn't."

"I couldn't have faced _James_," said Remus with a shudder.

Lily grinned. "Frightening prospects."

"You have no idea."

They watched the ensuing insanity for a moment; James and Sirius seemed to be doing some kind of dance on a table and everyone was singing what Lily called the "Gryffindor Drinking Song" and what everyone else called the "Quidditch Song." Two years ago, some now graduated student had invented The Quidditch Song when Gryffindor won the cup. Since the invention of the song was somewhat drink-induced, the lyrics changed every time it was sung, but most of the time, it went something like this:

"_Ma la la  
Ma la la  
Potter caught the snitch, Potter caught the snitch!  
Lions won the Quidditch pitch  
Ma la la  
Ma la la  
It's Gryffindor for the cup  
The cup for the Gryffindor  
Slytherin was all shut up  
With Ravenclaw we washed the floor  
Ma la la  
Ma la la  
Hufflepuff never had no luck  
Red and gold is where it's at  
The others are all gone to chuck  
Slytherins are slags  
Ma la la  
Ma la la!"_

Admittedly, 'at' and 'slags' did not rhyme, but the overall rhythm was catchy enough, and everyone was usually too high on Quidditch-generated euphoria to notice or care.

"It's no wonder his ego was the size of Australia," laughed Lily, as everyone started up again for the second round.

Remus grinned. _"Was_?" he asked. "Since when was it 'was'?"

Lily shrugged. "Since he brought butterbeer, I guess." Remus hardly needed to point out that Sirius and James _always_ brought butterbeer, so he didn't.

As the party progressed, Remus and Lily were joined by none other than the Seeker and Captain himself. James walked over, with Redival waiting a few feet behind him.

"Er... could I have a word with Evans, really quickly?" he asked, and Remus nodded.

"I'll get more butterbeer," volunteered the Marauder, getting up.

James took his seat, and when his friend was gone said: "This will just take a second, I swear." When Lily unexpectedly did not protest, he continued: "It's about Silth. When we looked at him on the map yesterday, he was labeled as 'Damien Silth.' Not 'Michael' or anything, like Grossman said."

"Could the map have been wrong?"

"No."

"You're sure?"

"The map _can't_ be wrong," James insisted.

"Alright, alright, so the map's right, and Grossman is wrong?"

"Must be. Why would she think that his name was Michael, though?"

Lily shook her head to say that she didn't know, but before any more speculation could take place, Redival's voice called James's name.

"Are you done yet?" she complained.

"You should go..." Lily told him, nodding towards Redival. "Might as well reap the benefits of your victory..."

James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I guess... er... just thought you should know about that, though."

"Yeah, thanks." Then, she added in a louder voice so that Redival would hear her: "And thanks for telling me about McGonagall's scheduling change!"

"No problem." He added in an undertone: "See you, Red."

And then he rejoined Redival. Remus returned a moment later with butterbeer.

When Lily entered her dormitory much later that evening (or was it morning by then?), her first impression was that it was empty. A moment's observation showed her that this was not true, and that Eden was sitting on the floor, hugging her legs and leaning against the foot of her own bed. It now occurred to Lily that she hadn't seen Eden at all during the course of the party.

"Hey, E, how are...?" Lily broke off. She saw her friend's face clearly for the first time in the dimly lit dormitory. What little light there was reflected off where tears had streamed down Eden's pale face. Lily was at her side a moment later. "Oh my God! E, what's the matter? _Eden_?"

Eden slowly turned her head to face her friend. "Me, Lily," she whispered. "I'm the matter." Tears gathered in those bright blue eyes, but Lily grabbed the blonde's shoulders tightly.

"Eden," she said sternly yet sympathetically; "Eden, tell me what's happened!"

The tears fell again, but Eden said nothing. She was sobbing as she pulled her legs closer and rested her chin on her knees. Lily let go of her shoulders and sat down in the same suit. "E, talk to me."

Eden made a sound halfway between a sob a cough, but still said nothing. Lily remained silent also. They sat in that manner for about two minutes, but it was the blonde who eventually broke first.

"I've told you about my mum, Lily, haven't I?"

Whatever Lily had been expecting, it was not this. The prospects of what was now making Eden so miserable frightened the Head Girl, as her mind leaped to a thousand possible conclusions. "Yeah, E," she said calmly, not displaying her current worries in her voice. "You've told me."

Eden let out an unsteady breath, then continued in an attempted composed voice: "She was slut, Lily. Dad only married her 'cos she was pregnant... he didn't love her like he loved Marlene's mum."

All this Lily knew. Eden had told her in fifth year, under a similar situation. It was the reason for the disrespect with which she treated her father and the contempt with which she referred to her mother. But in fifth year, Lily had understood exactly what had triggered the confession in her friend. Now, she was at a loss to comprehend what could bring Eden to this rare, hysterical state.

"What's happened, Eden?" Lily repeated in a gentle whisper.

Eden sniffed, then said in a strangely even voice: "I'm like her."

"No. No, you're not E. She's dead. She doesn't have any effect on..."

"I slept with Rian tonight," interrupted Eden, as if she hadn't heard a word.

Lily paused. For about a minute, an internal war raged inside the Head Girl. She wasn't sure if she was surprised because Eden had done that, or if she was surprised because she acted as if this was the first time. She had never been entirely certain about Eden's virginity; sometimes she thought that surely a girl of her popularity and (often) lack of inhibition would have slept with at least some of her boyfriends, but sometimes, Eden left the impression that she was committed to maintaining her virtue and distancing herself from her deceased mother. Lily watched her friend steadily for a moment.

"What happened?" she asked at length.

Eden shrugged. "I don't know. it just happened. It wasn't forced or anything. I just... why do I feel like...?" She did not finish, and Lily did not answer the incomplete question. She supposed it was rhetorical anyway. Eden burst into a fresh wave of tears. Lily put an arm around her shoulders, and helped Eden to her feet.

"C'mon," she said, opening the other girl's trunk and pulling out the pajama bottoms and tank top that Eden generally slept in. "You should go to bed." The blonde, dressed in the sports clothes she'd put on after the match, took the clothes obediently and slowly walked to the bathroom to change.

Lily sat down at the vanity, running her hands through her hair until Eden came out. She set her clothes on the trunk and walked to her bed. Lily went to the bed also, and sat on the edge, till Eden was under the covers.

"You're all right," Lily told her, standing and loosening the curtain rings of the canopy. Eden, still tearstained, smiled sardonically. "Well," the redhead corrected herself; "You will be." She closed the curtains of the four-poster bed, then, after a short pause, went over the window seat. She sat ther for some time, until she heard the heavy breathing that told her Eden had gone to sleep. It began to rain outside, and Lily went to bed.

_

* * *

_

**Note**: short update, long chapter—do ya love me? If you do, leave me a review (rhyme! Wooohoo!); if you don't, leave me a review (lack of rhyme! Wooohoo!), and tell me so. My song-writing skills are something, eh? Lots of love to all the logged-in reviewers, who have their responses, and also to the sole anonymous reviewer: **sky4444** (thank you much, darling, for taking time out of your math to R&R:-P Help yourself to extra cookies!)

And again, many thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed thus far. Chapter 20 is coming in all its glory, but I'm still in debate over the title. Love to reviewers!

Cheers,  
_Jewels_


	20. Act of Contrition

_Note:_ I loathe this chapter. Still, be a love and review, won't you? 

_History_: JKR, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, WB, and various others own rights to Harry Potter. I own OCs, the plot, and the account. That's it, guys.

_Much-Loved Recap_: Praedam gets sacked for mysterious reasons (gasp!); Sirius's girlfriend, Rachel, breaks up with him because she thinks he's cheating on her. Lily and James use the Marauders' Map and discover that Praedam is not what he pretends to be. Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup and consequently throws a huge party after which, Lily finds Eden in their dormitory, tear-stained and guilty.

_Quick note:_ Now I know you all are _dying_ for some L/J action. All I can say is that there will be _some_ intermixed within all this silly "plot" stuff (if you look carefully you'll see Lily's random jabs at Redival and James's subtle and occasional spouts of jealousy), but trust me, I just sketched an upcoming chapter that positively _teems_ with "L/J love connection™." (rights to Karen :-P)

**Chapter 20- "Act of Contrition"  
**_"It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive." –_Earl Warren

Darkness.

He shut his eyes tight, and then opened them again.

Bright light.

He shut his eyes again, very quickly, swearing under his breath. His head ached—every part of his body ached. He had had much too much to drink last night. Damn it.

There was a particular spot in his back that ached worst of all.

Very slowly, an irritated and stiff James Potter sat up and (again, very slowly) opened his eyes for a third time. The world was a blur of light that did nothing good for his head, but he persevered. He felt around for his glasses and found not only the object of his search, but also that he was not in his dormitory.

James pushed his glasses on hastily, and the room around him came into slight focus. He was on a couch in the Common Room. The Quidditch Captain swung his legs around the edge of the couch and surveyed the scene about him. It was a mess, to put it lightly. He looked at the depression in the couch that imitated his sleeping figure, and saw a yellow plastic horn that some fourth years had been using earlier. That explained why his back hurt.

The grandfather clock near the stairwell struck seven times, and James moaned. Seven o'clock? It was _seven_ o'clock? It then occurred to James that he was not sure if it was seven o'clock in the morning, or seven o'clock in the evening. He got to his feet with some difficulty and staggered to the window. Outside, the sky was grey—it was clearly 7 am. James was nothing short of bewildered. How had he woken up? Now that he thought of it, he'd only gone to sleep (at most) two hours earlier.

A squeak from somewhere behind him caused James to start and look around. A house elf had appeared near the couch he had just risen from. The creature, a seemingly younger elf with large blue eyes, began to pick up the debris from the party. A few more appeared moments later, and a few more just after that.

Distracted from his pain and exhaustion for the time being, James watched as they worked. They ignored him completely and did not stop until every sofa cushion was back on the sofa, every glass bottle was disposed of in a black sack, every stain on the floor was vanished, and the odor of alcohol and junk food was nonexistent.

It took all of fifteen minutes for this to transpire, and when the work was done, the house elves disappeared, as suddenly as they had appeared. The last remaining creature, which was, incidentally, the one that had first arrived, turned to James and, blinking his large blue eyes, bowed. James bowed slightly in return, which caused the elf's eyes to widen just before he apparated away. The Head Boy was too tired and in too much pain to think very hard about what had just occurred. He simply walked (sort of) back to the couch and lay down again.

He did not fall asleep, however. He could not. He even moved the horn. That was the mystery of it—the very cruel mystery. He was hung over and he could not go to sleep. Justice was quick and merciless this morning.

James got to his feet again (but only barely) and made his very wobbly way towards the stairway. About halfway up, he came across a large lump of robes and flesh, which James could only assume to be a corpse—a pitiable victim of last night's celebrations that had not possessed the spirit (or the liver) to survive till morning.

He kicked it. It groaned. It was alive!

The corpse rolled over and turned out to be Sirius.

"C'mon, Black," muttered James, kicking his friend again. Sirius only groaned louder, and hugged his stomach. James kicked him the shoulder, and with another moan of pain, Sirius opened on blue grey eye. "Lesgo," James slurred, nodding vaguely up the stairs.

Sirius shut his eye and muttered something which sounded suspiciously like: "Go-to-hell, Potter."

"I'm there a'ready," said James. "C'mon." With courage unsuspected of him, the Head Boy reached down and grabbed his friend's forearm, bringing him up a little.

"No..." protested Sirius, either barely alive, or barely dead.

"Get up. We're going to bed."

"Where're we?"

"On stairs."

Sirius very reluctantly and as if he was in a great deal of pain got to his feet (well, to his knees, anyway), and half-walked, half-crawled up the stairs. James followed in an ever so slightly more dignified—at least more upright—manner, until they came to their dormitory. Inside, they did not quite make it to their beds. Sirius collapsed about two yards from the door, but James made it all the way to the floor space right near his bed and decided it looked quite comfortable enough to sleep on. He fell to the floor and pulled his blanket from the bed next to him, before drifting back to a much-welcomed sleep.

It was some hours before he woke again.

"C'mon, up, up, up, Prongs," said Remus Lupin's voice, at approximately one o'clock in the afternoon. James made a rude, but (he thought) thoroughly deserved hand gesture in his fellow Marauder's general direction.

Remus rolled his eyes, but James did not see this, because he had not dared open his eyes yet.

"C'mon! It's after one in the afternoon. We'll go get something for your hangover."

"Sod off, Moony."

"Merlin, you must've been smashed last night."

James opened his eyes a little. "You think I'm bad—try Sirius. Just you wait..."

"Get up, Prongs. We'll go see Slughorn... or the house elves."

"Stop talking, Moony."

"Hello, guys," said a loud voice, causing James to throw his blanket over his head and groan in pain. Whatever his hangover had been six hours ago, it was _much_ worse now.

"Hey, Paul," Remus replied to the Inflictor of Pain.

"Shut up, both of you," moaned Sirius's voice from somewhere in the dormitory; he sounded muffled, as if he was talking into the floor. James had still not opened his eyes properly to see anything. "And Moony, go get something for my head!" added Padfoot.

"I won't unless you two come along also," said Remus resolutely.

"No chance," moaned James. "C'mon... just go. Please?"

"No. You have to get your own medicine." There was a pause, then Remus added: "That's cue for you two to jump up and say 'Let's go!'"

"Go read a book, Lupin," snapped Sirius. "_Peter_!"

"Wha?" Peter's also muffled voice came from what the others could only assume to be his bed.

"You drunk last night?" slurred Sirius.

"Don't think so. I feel human. And I was too busy "talking" with Tara Swanton, if you know what I mean."

"I don't need your life story, Worms. Just go get me something for this headache."

"And me!" added James, trying unsuccessfully to raise his hand. His arm just fell in a limp, useless heap next to him.

"Give me ten minutes," said Peter far too cheerfully, and he could be heard getting out of his bed.

"I'll give you five," Sirius snapped. "And don't step on me on the way out."

* * *

Breakfast was entirely forgotten—or at least ignored—and lunch was the first meal of the day for most on Sunday. Lily herself came to lunch around twelve-thirty, but she was one of the earlier ones. The Hall was mostly full by one o'clock, however, and Lily stayed to eat with her friends. 

Lily was not "hung over" so to speak, though she did have a _slight_ headache. To no one's shock, Alice was completely pain free, having opted for nothing stronger than butterbeer the night before, but Lexi (to _everyone's_ shock) was suffering from a headache as well.

At least, she _had_ been until Lily and she had visited the house elves in the kitchen, by recommendation of Remus Lupin. The Marauders always had hangover cures on the day after a Quidditch match, but, according to Remus, the two who were largely responsible for the distribution of these cures were currently lying on the floor of the boys' dormitory, half dead. The house elves' remedies would have to suffice. Actually, they seemed to be working rather well.

In any case, the girls sat at a late lunch in the Great Hall, headache free, eating a little, but mostly enjoying a game that Lily called "Who's Been Drinking?"

"Redival Shelley doesn't have a hangover," Alice observed, munching on a bread roll. "Not even _she_ could have hair that perfect after a night of drinking."

"Priss," remarked Lily in an undertone.

Lexi snorted, then said: "Rachel Brossle definitely was drinking."

"Where is she?" asked Alice, looking about for the subject. "I don't see her."

"Exactly."

"Look at Gwen Avarius," said Lily, nodding in the direction of the usually cute blonde fifth year. "She's been drinking if _anyone_ has."

"Didn't Frank ask her out last night?" asked Lexi tactlessly.

Alice looked prim. She looked as prim as Alice could ever look, anyway. It actually came off as merely slightly less sweet than usual. "That's what I heard," she said. "And it's just as well."

Lily glared at Lexi for bringing it up, and Lexi mouthed "Ooops."

"Anyway," said the Head Girl. "I hate Gwen's hair."

"Aye," agreed Lexi. "It's so... bushy."

"Like a rat's nest."

"A rat's nest?"

"Sure, why not? And her teeth..."

"Dreadful."

"Awful."

"I think she's cute," said Alice, a little gently.

"Very cute," threw in Lily.

"Adorable," conceded Lexi.

Alice smiled and shook her head. "You two are idiots some times... Frank doesn't look terribly hung over, does he?"

"No, he doesn't," Lexi concurred sincerely. "Strange, considering _he_ supposedly asked her out."

"Terrence Bowly looks a wreck," said Lily, resting her chin on her fists. "So does Olivia Malfoy. Serves her right—the tramp."

"Did I tell you I got back together with Leander?" asked Alice suddenly, as if she had not heard Lily at all.

"No," chorused the other two, surprised. "When?"

"This morning. I ran into him in the corridor and asked him if he wanted to get together again."

Lily was hesitant to voice the question burning in her, but she was saved the trouble by Lexi: "_Why_?"

"I don't know," admitted Alice with Eden-like casualness. "Seemed like the thing to do, I suppose. Pass the butter, please, Lily."

The redhead did so. "Leander cheated on you, Alice," she reminded her as gently as was at all possible.

"Several times," added Lexi, much less gently.

"I know," said Alice, "but I was willing to forgive him, and he seemed more than willing to take me back. Where's Eden?"

The conversation grew, if possible, even more uncomfortable for Lily. "Don't know," said Lexi thoughtfully. "She must be still in bed... but she's never one to sleep in. The girl must have truly been inebriated last night... but come to think of it, we didn't see much of her. Did you?"

Alice replied that she had not, and Lily shook her head also. "No," she said honestly. "I only saw her just before she went to bed."

"Before we came in, or after?"

"Before."

"We should go up and see her," Alice said, concern evident in her voice. "Maybe bring her something from the house elves." She took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"I think we should just let her rest it out, guys," Lily advised in a would-be casual tone.

"She'll never sleep tonight," Lexi pointed out. "C'mon. It's nearly half-past one. She really should get up."

Alice and Lexi were already getting up from the table, so Lily had no choice but to follow. All the somewhat hurried walk to Gryffindor Tower, she debated in her head what to do when they got there. She had not reached a conclusion as they gave the Fat Lady the password ("Hollycarp"), or as they climbed the stair to the dormitories.

They entered the Girls' dorm and found the curtains around Eden's bed still drawn. Lexi walked over and pulled them aside.

"Odd," she remarked.

"She's not here," said Alice, stating the obvious, for Eden's unmade bed was, in fact, empty.

"Maybe she's in the bathroom," Lexi speculated, and she and Alice went to see if this was the case. Lily stayed put, observing the room around her. She noticed Rachel's bed was empty as well. When Lexi and Alice returned with the news that Eden was still missing, the girls retreated to the Common Room. Two of the three assumed that their friend had gone to Slughorn or the House Elves for a tonic and would turn up soon enough. And anyway, they had homework to do.

In less than a month, the seventh years would be taking their NEWT examinations. Even Lily, who would procrastinate as much as the next girl, had begun studying by now. The teachers had been telling them for months, of course, that they should begin preparing for the tests, but most of the seventh years had not believed them until now.

The minutes slipped by, and still Eden did not appear. Lily was growing worried, but, unwilling to tell the others of their friend's confession the night before, could not confess her own worries to them. Still, they _did_ notice that Lily was having a difficult time concentrating on her schoolwork. Both pointed out her distraction several times, but Lily dismissed their concerns with rather pathetic excuses.

After a little over an hour, the girls were diverted by the entrance of Redival Shelley. The blonde walked up to their spot by the cold fireplace, and asked in an irritated voice: "Have any of you seen James?"

"No," chorused the girls, then Alice added: "Not since he passed through about an hour ago. I think he was going to lunch, since he didn't seem like he still had a hangover."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Redival sighed. "It's really annoying," she said. "He went with Lupin and Black to the Kitchens for lunch, and then they said something about Lupin being sick and having to go to the Hospital Wing. I haven't seen him or _Black _since! Merlin..."

"What's James done?" asked Lexi, unable to fully suppress a note of amusement.

"Oh, nothing, I suppose," said Redival, looking about distractedly. "Only, I need to find him... talk to him about something."

"If we see him, we'll tell him you're looking for him," Alice volunteered generously.

"Thanks," said Redival, looking dismal. She turned and exited the Common Room.

"Wonder what Potter's done," Lily murmured, more entertained than she cared to admit. "No girlfriend talks like _that_ when she just wants to have a word with the bloke."

"She's probably fuming about Rachel," said Lexi dismissively. "Rachel's _her_ best friend, after all, and Sirius is _his_."

"Mmmm... she told him off the other day," Alice recollected.

"You know," continued Lexi after a short silence; "It's very dull of James and Redival to go out. She's such a stereotype Potter girlfriend. 'Suppose they must see something in each other, though... they've been together for a good bit. Oi, 'ello, Paul."

Paul Montreal had come down from the Portrait Hole, looking tired but mostly alive.

"Hey, Lex." He took a seat on the arm of Lexi's chair. "Are you lot doing homework?" He looked scandalized.

"Sort of," said Alice. "We were also talking about James and Redival."

Paul yawned.

"I agree," Lexi stated, looking cheerful.

Lily shut her Potions book with a sigh. "I'm going for a walk," she said decidedly. "I'm so sick of homework right now."

"We really should finish..." Alice said wisely.

"Go ahead," shrugged the Head Girl, getting up. "I'll be back in a bit." She left the Common Room quickly, with no clear idea of where she was going. She wasn't really even sure why, except that she couldn't stand to be inside talking about Potter and his _girlfriend_.

* * *

"Well _I_ don't know what you want me to do about it!" said a very nearly shouting James for what felt like the millionth time. 

"He's _your_ friend!" restated Redival angrily, for what probably _was_ the millionth time.

"So why don't you go and talk to _him_ about it?" James snapped, "seeing as he's apparently responsible for your friend's misery, your headache, the bad weather, the goblin revolt of 1682, and all of Voldemort's murders!"

Redival flinched at the sound of _the name_, cowering slightly at her boyfriend's wrath. "Don't shout at me!" she said, offended.

"Who's shouting?" James shouted.

"James Potter, you're being completely unfair! All I'm saying is that you should _talk_ to him!"

James rolled his eyes and shifted his weight. It had finally stopped raining, and he had been _trying_ to enjoy the quiet of the lake, when Redival had accosted him. It was about three in the afternoon, and he had managed to avoid her rather well, up until now. "_Please_, Redival," he said, in a failed attempt at composure. "First of all, I have no reason or right to butt into Sirius's business—especially his romantic business. Second of all, I have no desire to do what you want, because what you want is for me to go up to my best mate and tell him he's a complete cad, which I _don't_ believe... at least not in regards to Rachel. And _third of all_, Sirius seems to have gone missing, in case you haven't noticed, so unless you can come up with three _very _good reasons why I should go looking for him, _I WON'T!"_

Redival looked shocked. A number of times, she opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, then shut it very quickly before finally regaining herself enough to say in a very cold manner: "Do it for me."

James glared. "That's _one_ reason."

The blonde did not look like she was going to recover from _that_ blow very soon, and there may have been tears in her eyes. She did finally compose herself a very little, or at least enough to glare coldly at him and storm back to the castle. James found, surprisingly, that he did not care half as much as he felt he ought to have. He began to walk once more, but a sarcastic, disembodied voice startled him.

"_Bravo_, Potter."

James looked around, and eventually spotted the voice's embodiment. Lily Evans was leaning against the thick trunk of a nearby tree, looking smug.

"How long have you been there?" snapped the Head Boy, a little embarrassed.

"About half an hour, but the last five minutes have been by far the most interesting part."

"Damn."

"Mmmm. Quite."

"How come I didn't see you?"

"I was behind the tree, of course. I didn't want to intrude on Romeo and Juliet, after all."

"Sod off."

"Someone's cheery."

"I hate women."

"Evidently." Lily straightened up and, putting her hands in the pockets of her zip-up jacket, walked over to him. "So, are you two done with then?"

James glanced over towards where Redival had made her exit. "I don't think so... we'll make up as soon as my headache goes away."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's a healthy relationship."

"I really don't think _you_ have the right to reprimand _me_ on healthy relationships."

"Who's reprimanding?"

"Well, you were being sarcastic, anyway."

"How do you know Redival's not permanently mad?"

"She's not. She'll be perfectly fine once Rachel gets over Sirius, and that won't take long. She and Redival are both just being dramatic for the hell of it." He appeared perfectly nonchalant about the whole thing.

"Did Sirius cheat on her?" Lily asked curiously. "Rumor has it, he did." The two began walking, despite the grey storm clouds that threatened rain overhead.

"He didn't," said James simply, and she believed him.

"Yeah, I guess his reputation must be worse than he actually is. Anyway, I like Sirius."

"As in... _fancy_ him?"

"Merlin, no."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Mmmm... if you two went out, you'd be hanging around all the time, wouldn't you?"

"You're only saying that. Admit it, Potter. It's actually because you're secretly madly in love with me."

"Oh, damn, you caught me."

"Well think about it—you're always following me about, you have an unhealthy fascination with my love life, and I bet you go searching though every broom closet now, hoping I'll be in of one of them."

"_Every_ night."

"Just say it, James. You love me."

"I'd rather go out with the giant squid."

"I had that coming," laughed Lily.

"And much worse," agreed James.

Lily tossed her hair in a very superior manner, not unlike Redival. "I thought your catch yesterday was just _perfect_, Jay!" she said, imitating James's girlfriend once more.

"Well it was."

"Oh, _I_ know. The Slytherin Seeker could not even compare to the most miniscule fraction of your perfection."

"You know, I get that a lot."

"Well of course you do, Jay! Being the god that you are of all things."

"Mmmm... that's why they call me 'James the god of all things.'"

"Not me," sighed Lily. "To me, you'll always be, 'Jay, god of perfectly perfect perfection in all things Quidditch, sex, and school.'"

James could not resist laughing now. "I'm fairly certain Redival has _never_ said that, Red."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "But she _has_ called you _the god of all things_?"

"Only implicitly."

"Oh, I see."

"What did darling _Trent_ call you?"

"Now, James, you know perfectly well I'm not the type of girl who would go about spilling those type of things... even about my _ex-_boyfriends."

"That bad, huh?"

"No comment."

"Was it one of those kind-of good, but mostly just underhanded insult type of nicknames?"

"No comment!"

"It was, wasn't it?"

"James," explained the redhead in the tone of a mother explaining something to a four year old, "the only type of girls who go about sharing those intimate details are tarts, and _I_ am..."

"A tart," he interrupted.

Lily's teasing smile flashed across her face. "You can try and hurt my feeling as much as you like, James Potter, but I won't cry. I'm no Redival." Then, she turned and took Redival's path back to the castle.

That, James thought, was the difference between girls like Redival and girls like Lily.

Yelling at Redival made her cry. Yelling at Lily made her yell back.

* * *

That evening, Lily sat in the Common Room once again. It was growing dark now, and not just because of the rain clouds. Most of the other Gryffindors had also retired to the Common Room. Alice was reading in a corner, looking miserable, as Frank Longbottom and Gwen Avarius "cuddled" nearby. Lexi and Paul were talking animatedly by the fire about politics (of all things). Sirius and Rachel were still missing, as was Eden. 

James had came into the Common Room with Peter shortly after Lily had. The Head Girl had not seen Remus all day, but she supposed that he was ill in the Hospital Wing, for that was what Redival had told her earlier. He _had_ been looking a little sick for the last week or so, Lily remembered. She was about to go inquire about him to James, who looked irritated and kept checking his watch, when two rather unexpected arrivals made their grand entrance.

Sirius and Rachel walked through the portrait hole. Together. Arm and arm.

James got to his feet quickly and walked over to his friend. Lily watched the scene unfold with interest. The Head Boy was beckoning Sirius away from Rachel, but Sirius looked reluctant. James came over and muttered something to his best friend that made the latter excuse himself to Rachel and follow James to his fireside seat where Peter was waiting. They talked in hushed voices, so Lily did not know what exactly was being said, though Sirius did shake his head several times, apparently in disagreement with James and Peter. Eventually, Sirius got up and rejoined Rachel. The two walked out of the Common Room. Together. Arm and arm.

Lily was very confused.

James, on the other hand, was infuriated, and went up towards his dormitory. Lily sat in the Common Room for some time, but she did not see him come down.

Presently, the portrait hole opened again, but this time it was Eden that came in. She was alone, but she could not have been further from the state Lily had seen her in last night. She was well groomed, neatly clothed, and looked surprisingly positive. At least, she did not look miserable.

The blonde immediately walked over to her surprised friend, sitting in the chair opposite her.

"Where the hell have you been all day?" asked Lily at once. "Everyone's been worried about you... are you okay?"

Eden smiled wryly, appearing to be _thoroughly_ okay. "I'm fine, Red," she said simply. "I want to apologize, though. I was a little worse for the drink last night—I shouldn't have worried you like that. I'm sorry..."

"It's... it's fine," Lily stammered, confused. "But... is everything okay?"

Eden nodded. "Yeah," she said, as if she could not entirely understand it herself. "It is."

"But... but..." Lily struggled for words; "have you seen Rian today?"

"No," Eden answered slowly. "No, I've avoided him mostly. Actually, I've spent most of the day—well, most of the day that I've been awake—with Rachel Brossle."

Lily raised her eyebrows. Things were beginning to make sense. "Do you mean... you talked to her about Sirius?"

Eden nodded. "I just told her Sirius never cheated on her. And then I told her how much she meant to him... y'know. Whatever it took."

"But... why did she believe you? Did she think Sirius cheated with _you?"_

"I don't know what she thought," shrugged the other. "But I must've corrected something, because they're back together."

"Yeah, I know. They came in here a little while ago all couple-y again. So... that was you?"

"I guess."

"But... why? Why did you do all that?"

Eden paused thoughtfully. "I had to," she explained at length. "It was just... something I had to do. I just seemed right, I suppose..." She broke off, then continued much more cheerfully: "anyway, I'm going up to bed... I'm still _so_ tired. See you in the morning, alright?"

"Yeah, okay." With that, Eden went up to the dormitory. Lily watched her go, still unsure of what happened. She sat there for a while, growing steadily more irritated with the noisy Common Room.

Although Lily did not _see_ the Head Boy come down after he had stormed up to his dormitory some minutes earlier, it did not follow that James did not actually come down. As a matter of fact, he did come down almost immediately following his retreat. He was, however, wearing his invisibility cloak again, and Lily had not thought of that. James carried with him the Marauders' Map once more, but his expedition tonight was of a completely different nature than the last one had been. Tonight, he was going to Hogsmeade.

He was in a very bad mood, and he knew it, as he walked down the corridor in the vague direction of one of the passages out of the castle. This was the evening of the full moon and because _Sirius_ decided that _he _didn't want to go out, none of them could. James had pride enough, sure, but even he knew that his animagus form alone could not keep the werewolf Remus in check.

Stupid Sirius and his stupid girlfriend.

Why did she have to forgive him, anyway?

On the sixth floor, James checked the map again. No one was around. He hurried about halfway through the corridor and then stopped when he came to a wooden door on the left wall. This was a broom closet, and James stepped inside. There were no redheads inside. He took off the Invisibility Cloak and tossed it, with the Marauders' Map, onto a high shelf, where he would retrieve them later.

Pushing his way through broomsticks, crates, and various other objects that cluttered the closet, James reached the back wall. He moved everything out of the way so that he had clear access to the wall and drew his wand. He tapped it once, then muttered with alacrity: "Ostenda!"

The wooden planks of the wall quivered for a moment, and then seemed to melt away. James stepped through the hole this allowed. He was now standing in a long, dark tunnel; the wall behind him returned to its original state, but James did not pay any attention to this, for he was too busy feeling the ground in front of him with one trainer-clad foot.

He took a few steps forward and felt about again, until finding that he was standing in the right place, for his foot felt nothing under it. James slid down so that he was in a sitting position, before pushing himself forward. All he had to do was lean back and enjoy the ride, for he was sliding down a long tunnel. This lasted for about a minute, before the ground grew suddenly level.

James did some sort of somersault to avoid hurting his legs on the landing. When he was on his feet again, he continued down the tunnel. At first it was very level, and then it sloped downward once more. Finally, it began to slope upward, before transitioning into steps. James climbed the steps, till they really became more of a slightly inclined ladder. He knew he had reached the top of the ladder, for he hit his head on something hard just above him.

"Shit," he muttered, rubbing the sore spot irritably. Then, he let go of the step in front of him with one hand and pushed hard on the surface his head had just hit. Slowly, the hard, bumpy object began to give way, until a circular hole about three feet in diameter was revealed, through which James hastily climbed. He was out in the open air now.

Some distance away, the Shrieking Shack, where James knew Remus must be at this moment, was visible. It was growing darker by the minute, but this did not bother James in the slightest. He had been to Hogsmeade at every time of day and night, and as long as he was careful, he could avoid meeting anyone from the school with relative ease. The hardest part was avoiding any Aurors—Moody or Bright, for instance—who might recognize him.

James turned and looked down at the rock he had just pushed away and moved it gently over to the hole he had climbed out of. He was on the distant outskirts of Hogsmeade, so no one was likely to notice a teenage wizard climbing out of the ground. Glad to be out of the stuffy castle once more, James pushed his hands in his pockets, wishing he'd brought a jacket, and began walking towards the village.

It took about ten minutes to get to the high street, and then James had to decide where he wanted to go first. Most of the shops were closed or closing, but the Head Boy was mostly interested in visiting either The Hogs Head or The Three Broomsticks. Eventually, James elected the latter, for the secluded atmosphere of the former could be a little intimidating when one was not supposed to be in the village at all.

The Three Broomsticks was crowded and noisy tonight, but James did not mind this so much as he had minded it in the Common Room. He nodded to Rosmerta as he entered, and she pointed him to a table in the corner. There was a large potted plant nearby that he could easily duck behind if necessary, but he also had clear vision of the door. Sitting at the table in front of him, there was a heap of a wizard whose face was resting in his arms, apparently drunk, at the table next to him, a handful of goblins, but there was no one to bother the Head Boy.

With the reminder of his hangover this morning, James ordered butterbeer, and when it was brought to him, he drank it in silence. For a while, he watched a few goblins arguing at the table next to him, until someone else entered the pub that caught his eye. Professor Silth walked in. James immediately pointed his already drawn wand at the potted plant and moved it over a few inches, completely obscuring the drunken wizard in front of him, and providing protection from Silth's line of sight.

Through the branches, James could see his Professor's movements. It was much to his surprise that he began to walk directly towards James himself. The Head Boy held his breath, but Silth did not come and sit at his table, nor did he seem to see the student at all. Instead, he walked over and sat down at the drunken wizard's table.

James breathed freely. Slowly he got up and moved to the other side of his table so that he was closer to Silth and the other man, but his back was to them. He hid his face in his arms as the wizard behind him had done earlier, and listened to the conversation behind him. It was hard to hear in the noisy pub, but he could catch most of it if he listened hard.

"Well done, well done," snapped Silth's voice sarcastically.

"Shut up!" slurred the other man's voice, and James recognized it immediately as a very drunk sounding Praedam. A thrill ran down his spine, and he consciously tried to block out every other sound besides their conversation.

"Me?" scoffed Silth in a loud whisper. "_I_ should shut up, should I? Ha! You called _me _the rookie... remember? Back in July, when we first took the jobs. 'Watch yourself, Rookie,'that's what's you said, you fool. But it's you—all along, it's been you who's made all the mistakes! You couldn't just be patient, could you? You had to act a month early... I told you, we should wait till the end of the year... it'd be easier to bow out gracefully then... but no, you were too impatient, you senile idiot! And then—oh, and then you had to get caught!"

"Shut up!" repeated Praedam, a little loudly, which caused Silth to shush him. "What about you?" continued the older man, sounding a bit more sober. "You haven't done so well, have you? Adelaide Grossman recognized you! You knew she was here and you still allowed yourself to be recognized! And anyway, we _agreed_... we agreed that we would take what we could get at Christmas, didn't we? But no, you wanted to wait. I'm not a simpleton, Damien—you've been working for someone else for months. This whole job was _your_ idea... your job... your plan. But it wasn't your style. You were hired to bring us here. I know when a man has ulterior motives..."

"Keep your voice down, Idiot! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes, yes, you do! That trophy in the Trophy Room, the painting in the fourth floor... Delilah would have paid thousands of galleons for those... you were looking for something specific, weren't you, Damien—or is it Michael?"

"It's _Damien_," snapped Silth venomously.

Praedam went on as if he had not heard. "But we weren't conning for Delilah anymore, were we? No, no... you're working for someone else. "

There was a very pregnant pause, and then Silth chuckled. "Elliot, you impress me," he said, sounding merry, in sharp contrast to his angrier tone moments before. "You haven't completely lost your capacity to think, then. Good, good..."

"It's my right to kill you, Damien," said Praedam coldly; "You've broken a promise. Never mind that, for the time being, though. For whom are you working?"

"Names are unimportant," said Silth dismissively. "Let us call him 'The Foreigner,' shall we? That's how he introduced himself, and he has a sort of accent. I'm meeting him tonight, you know. There's a particular spot in the Forbidden Forest where... well, I won't bore you with details."

"Why are you telling _me_ this? You must have some purpose. I've known you since you were a teenager, Damien..."

Silth chuckled again. "And after fifteen years of work together, Elliot, you still surprise me. I'm impressed."

"It would surprise you then," said Praedam, "to hear that my name isn't Elliot?"

"Of course your name's Elliot... it's on your trunk, and even Delilah calls you that."

"Delilah doesn't know everything. Allow me to introduce myself. Donavon Gracechurch, at your service."

"Well then, Mr. Gracechurch," said Silth, his voice cold once more. "Let us find a new place to talk. I think we have much to discuss, and this pub does not have proper privacy."

There was the sound of two chairs being pushed back, and James could only assume that the two men were getting up. If he could have, he would have screamed at Praedam... or Elliot... or Gracechurch... or whoever he was, not to go with Silth. He didn't like the note in the younger man's voice. But he could do nothing.

The steps of the two wizards leaving the pub could be heard, and James hastily got to his feet. He threw some money on the table, tapped his wand once on his head, and muttered a disillusionment charm.

He barely had time to register the feeling of cold dampness that temporarily spread over him from the spot where the wand made contact with his head. A witch standing at the goblin table noticed a seventeen-year-old boy disappearing into thin air, but, being rather intoxicated, found it extraordinarily funny. As she burst into cackles over the sight, James, now invisible, hurried out of the pub as well. He managed to slip out just behind Praedam (or whatever his name was) and Silth.

Much to James's relief, they did not apparate away. Instead, Silth, looking about cautiously, led the way down the darkened street. James followed at a short distance, because, after all, the disillusionment charm did not make him wholly invisible unless he was standing perfectly still.

They walked for a few minutes, until they came to the edge of the town proper. There were still a few shops up ahead, but they were off the high street, and everything was quite dark. The shops that _were_ there were all closed up by now, and the street around them was otherwise deserted.

"Come along," said Silth, leading towards a small alleyway. Praedam followed reluctantly. James stayed out on the street but peered around the corner to watch what unfolded. "You should leave," Silth continued, his back to James; he was facing Praedam, who was leaning against the back wall. "You can apparate to... wherever it is you're staying. First though, there's one thing I want to ask you." He put his hands in his pockets and paced once or twice, before continuing: "How did you know I was working for someone else?"

"I already told you," snapped Praedam.

"Besides that. There must have been something else... it's for my own curiosity's sake. Humor me, _old friend_."

Praedam sighed. "You knew magic I'd never taught you, and I taught you everything. You knew how to modify Adelaide Grossman's memory... and anyway, with your sneaking about at three in the morning, I'd have to be a complete dunce not to cotton on eventually."

Silth smirked. "I can't take credit for Adelaide... I'm afraid the Foreigner did that as well. But there we are. Well, Elliot... that is, Donavan," he said cheerily; "I suppose this is goodbye. Goodbye!" But before James knew what had happened, Silth had drawn his wand from his pocket, aimed at Praedam, and said in a cold, clear voice: "_Avada Kedavra_!"

There was a flash of green light, and Praedam fell to the ground, dead.

James gasped, but quietly enough so that Silth did not seem to have heard. The Professor walked quickly to the body, pulling it behind a dustbin. He straightened it up so that he was leaning against the side wall of the alley, and began searching through his own pockets for something. Locating it, Silth withdrew a small vial, which he uncorked and, bending over, poured into Praedam's mouth. Then, he placed the vial in the dead man's hand placing the fingers around it just so.

James did not stay to watch the rest.

He turned on his heel and at first walked quickly back up the street. When he was a short distance away, he began to sprint. He had to get to the castle, and he had to get there quickly. He was running so fast, and looking over his shoulder so constantly, however, that it took James about two seconds after the fact to realize that he had something. Rather, someone.

Staggering back, James looked up and saw Gilbert Korcesh of the Ministry of Magic. It was another two seconds before he remembered that he was still disillusionized. Korcesh had drawn his wand and was looking carefully about for whatever had just hit him. James saved him the trouble; he tapped his head with his own wand and as he returned to sight, Korcesh jumped back.

"Oh my!"

"Listen, sir..." began James, but the other cut him off.

"What are you doing here in the village? You should be up in the castle!"

"I don't have time to explain, Sir..."

"Well you had better _make_ time..."

"Listen to me, Mr. Korcesh," said James urgently; "Praedam—the dark arts teacher who was sacked—has been killed..."

Korcesh looked shocked. "Killed? As in... murdered?"

"Yes. By Professor Silth… there's no time... are there any Aurors near? He's just down there... in the alley. I think he was trying to make it look like suicide..."

"Come with me," said Korcesh coldly, trying to steer James back towards the alley.

"Someone should go warn Dumbledore..."

"Dumbledore is away from the school at the moment."

"Well then McGonagall... Slughorn... Flitwick... _someone!_"

"No, come with me. Show me where he is."

James nodded. "Alright, c'mon... we've got to hurry though."

But Korcesh did not seem to be a very fast runner, and James was constantly several steps ahead of him. The Head Boy nodded in the direction of the alley as they drew closer, and Korcesh nodded in understanding. He held out a hand and hurried ahead of James, his wand raised and ready. He edged closer to the corner, then peered around into the alleyway.

Korcesh's shoulders relaxed and he stepped into the open.

"No one's here."

James stepped out into the open as well and looked about. "He was here, I swear it."

Korcesh took a step into the alley and waved his wand, muttering: "Lumos" as he did so. He approached the dustbins and said: "I believe you. Here's your Professor Praedam."

James walked over and saw the slumped body of the former teacher. He was about to say that that was not his real name, when there was the sound of voices from the street outside. The Head Boy rushed out, ignoring Korcesh's call of "wait!" and saw that several witches and wizards from the village were coming out to see what had happened.

"How did they find out?" he asked more to himself than to anyone else. He looked about and saw a window in the building that formed one of the alleyway's walls. The light was on, and several people were peering out of it, more cramming about to see every minute.

"We heard voices!" shrieked one witch from the window. "There's a body! Murder! Murder!"

Korcesh tried to calm them down, but once the cry went out, chaos reigned.

"I'm going to get someone from the castle!" James shouted to Korcesh. The Ministry Wizard tried to protest, but James was already pushing through the gathering crowd. He managed to get past them and ran up the high street towards the school.

As the voices of the crowd behind him grew fainter, one voice deterred him. "Wait!" shouted someone, and James automatically stopped and looked around. Then, he felt something hard, jabbing against the back of his neck. A wand. Something registered in James's head as he realized whose voice had called for him to stop.

"Don't move," said the voice.

James did not need to move or turn around to know who was currently holding him at wand point. It was Silth.

_

* * *

_

**Note**: Gah! Stupid chapter! Anyway, I hope you did not loathe it as much as I did, and I hope you'll leave me a review, either way. I've written the next two chapters and they're almost completely done, so if I get some reviews to inspire me to proofread and edit them, than I will surely update soon. Feel free to nag me in the mean time. It's quite helpful.

Thank you **_all_** reviewers—signed-in people have their responses. To the lovely anonymous people: **sky4444** (glad you enjoyed! Help yourself to cookies and an update), **tasz **(thank you for the review! Lily was a little typical in the last chapter, because she's always so set apart from the other girls in the story, and I like to write that she _is_ still a semi-normal girl. Hope she wasn't too annoying. Love and cookies), and **Karen** (this stupid site keeps deleting my reviews too! Before I get struck down with lightening by the god for saying that, thank you for your review, sorry you didn't like the match—though if you think it was boring to read, try writing it: _yawn_—, thank you for the inspiration, sorry L and J haven't come to their senses, though they're beginning to, and help yourself to cookies).

Cheers,  
_Jewels _


	21. Mind Games

**Note:** Huge thanks to reviewers. Much love :-P

**History**: "You give your hand to me, and then you say goodbye; I watch you walk away, beside the lucky guy. Oh you'll never know... the one who loves you so. Well, you don't know me..." What does this prove? It proves I own a Michael Bublé CD. I do not, however, own any rights to Harry Potter.

**Recap**: James, bored of the "romantic talk" and annoyed that Sirius has made him miss a full moon expedition, sneaks into Hogsmeade. In the Three Broomsticks, he discovers Praedam (who has recently been sacked for mysterious reasons) and Silth having a conversation. The two seem to have once been partners but are now at odds, and Silth says that he is working for someone called "The Foreigner." The two exit the pub and James follows. Silth murders Praedam and James leaves to tell Ministry wizard, Gilbert Korcesh, of this. As James hurries towards the castle, however, he is caught at wand point by Silth himself.

**Chapter 21- "Mind Games"  
**"_When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not."_ –Mark Twain

James could here his Professor chuckle lightly, as he had heard him minutes before in the pub. "So you saw that little scene, did you, Potter?"

"If I say 'no,' can I leave?"

Silth chuckled again. "It's a pity, Potter."

"What's that?"

"I never taught you, but I saw you in some of the other classes... you were a brilliant flier, _and_ student, too, according to Elliot."

"Elliot? Oh, you mean that bloke you just _killed_?" James growled.

"He would've killed me," said Silth indifferently.

"Bully for him."

"Now, now, Potter. I really don't think you're in any position to be rude to me."

"And I really don't think my manners will have any effect on what you do to me."

"True. But I'll regret it no matter what. You should've minded your own business, boy. It's such a pity..."

"You already said that."

"You shouldn't have come to Hogsmeade tonight. Any other night, and I would not have to. But now... I have no choice, I hope you understand."

"If you're going to kill me, I wish you'd hurry up about it. You didn't give Praedam this soliloquy, and you've known him much longer."

"He was an old man," scoffed Silth. "He ought to have known better. You are a young man and your recklessness is excusable. But it's of little consequence, and it does not change what must be done. It's regrettable but necessary. _Avada_..."

"_Stupefy!"_

Silth fell forward onto James's back. James moved quickly out of the way and the unconscious body of his professor fell to the dirt ground. The Head Boy looked up to see Korcesh standing over him with his wand still raised. He looked thoroughly hassled.

"Er... thanks," said James a little awkwardly, for he wasn't entirely sure what was proper etiquette in such situations.

"Of course," replied Korcesh, hastily bending down and rolling Silth over onto his back. "You should hurry up to the castle," he added, as the crowd began to swarm over in this direction.

James nodded and moved once more up the path, back towards the school.

* * *

The Common Room was noisy and crowded, and for the second time that day, Lily found herself annoyed with everything and everyone in it. She got to her feet and, picking up her jacket, left through the Portrait Hole with the vague idea of going for another walk. Her last one had been a great source of amusement for her, after all.

In the corridor, Lily put on her jacket as she walked aimlessly towards the stairwell. She wandered for a bit, not paying attention to her direction until she found herself on the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall. She was just debating whether or not to go outside when she was accosted by (almost literally) the last person she expected.

"James?" she asked uncertainly. Hadn't she seen him go up to bed an hour earlier?

Nevertheless, James Potter himself was hurrying in her direction and he bore an expression that Lily had never seen on him. Sweat was bleeding through his sport t-shirt, his face was flushed, and in his usually mischievous hazel eyes there was now a glint of fear.

"Lily!" observed James, evidently surprised himself. "Oh, Merlin... where's McGonagall? Have you seen her?"

"Er... no, I... James, what's the matter with you?"

"Praedam," said James, breathing heavily and speaking in a distracted manner. "God, I have to find McGonagall." He tried to push past her, but Lily grabbed his wrist.

"Wait, James! What's happened? Tell me!"

James turned and looked at her oddly. "Praedam's dead."

"_What?"_

"Praedam is dead," he repeated. "Silth did it."

"Oh, my... where?"

"Hogsmeade."

"Hogsmeade? James, what...?" Lily paused, trying to figure things out. "C'mon," she said at last. "We'll find McGonagall, but tell me everything."

They hurried up the stair in the direction of McGonagall's office. James retold all the details of Silth's conversation with Praedam: how Silth had led the other to a spot outside the main town area, how he had killed Praedam, then tried to make it look like suicide, how Korcesh had arrived, and how Korcesh had saved him from near death at Silth's hands.

"Are you alright?" asked Lily, her heart beating fast as they arrived at McGonagall's office.

"I'm fine," James promised. "Nothing happened to me." He knocked on the door.

"Shouldn't we go to Dumbledore?" Lily inquired doubtfully.

"He's not here right now," James said, knocking again. "Korcesh told me," he added, answering Lily's questioning look. He knocked again, but still McGonagall did not appear.

"Professor?" called Lily loudly. "Professor McGonagall? Are you there?" They waited for an answer, but none came. "I don't think she's in there," said the Head Girl definitively. "Have you got that map of yours?"

"It's in a closet on the sixth floor at the moment..."

"Should I even ask?"

"No."

"Alright, let's go get the map and try to find some..."

"No," said James suddenly. "Red, when I said that none of my memories had come back from the forest, I lied."

"You... wait, what?"

"I said I hadn't remembered anything, but that wasn't true. I don't remember much... only a few flashes of things here and there, but..."

"I lied too," Lily interrupted. "But I've remembered a lot more. Almost everything, I think. I was planning on telling Dumbledore when I could remember more... when I could remember who had done that to me."

James nodded. "That's what I was hoping for. Something is going on in the clearing tonight. Whoever modified our memories—the bloke that Silth called 'The Foreigner' is planning to meet Silth there, but Silth won't show up."

"Did you tell this to Korcesh?"

"I didn't have time. I had to get up here... anyway, your memories are better fixed than mine. Would you be able to find the way to the clearing from what you've remembered?"

Lily shook her head; "I don't think so... at least... not without a pensieve."

James swore quietly. "And I doubt we could get into Dumbledore's office without him here."

"No, we couldn't," Lily agreed. "But there might be another way... listen, I think I can get a pensieve, but I've got to do it alone. Without _you_, definitely."

"What are you going to do?" asked James warily.

"I'm going to ask Snape for his."

"_Snape?_ Are you crazy?"

"Probably. I don't know. But I think he has one. I tried to get him to let me use it once before, but I think I can do it this time."

"What makes you think...?"

"I don't know, but I've got to try. Go find McGonagall and tell her everything. I'll go get use of Snape's pensieve, and I'll write directions down. I'll give the directions to McGonagall or Aurors or something, and _they_ can catch whoever 'The Foreigner' is, okay?

James still looked hesitant. "I don't like the idea of Snape knowing about all this."

"That doesn't matter," dismissed Lily. "I'll try to make it so he doesn't catch on too much, but he already knows something about the forest."

"_What? How?"_

"I don't know. I tried to tell you at New Years, but you wouldn't..."

"Alright, alright, I get the picture. We have to hurry up."

"Right. Er... see you in a bit then."

They were about to depart, when James added, his mind clearly not at rest: "How will you find Snape?"

"I know where I can find someone who'll be able to get him for me."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. Just go..."

"Alright. Good luck."

"You too."

And the two parted ways. Lily hurried towards the stair that led upwards. She needed to get to the Astronomy Tower.

If there was one thing you could count on at Hogwarts, it was that on any given night when there were no Astronomy classes, you had at least a seventy-five to eighty percent chance of finding Olivia Malfoy in the Astronomy Tower with her latest boy toy. Lily only hoped she would not find Olivia in a position that would later force the Head Girl to gauge her eyes out.

She ascended the tower stairway, but listened carefully at the door. Once certain that there were no "Leave now!" warning sounds, Lily pushed open the door and entered. There were several couples that had chosen the Astronomy tower as a rendezvous spot tonight (none of whom noticed the new arrival), and it took a moment to locate the person Lily needed now.

Olivia—a pale-faced brunette—was currently glued to a sixth year Slytherin that Lily did not know. She did not care to know either, as he was not Snape, and the redhead walked directly over to them. She tapped Olivia on the shoulder several times before the Slytherin girl detached herself.

"What do you want, Mudblood?" she asked once she spotted Lily, surprise mixing in with her disgust. She was evidently in her usual lovely mood.

"You're going to do me a favor, Olivia," Lily told her.

"I don't think so." She began to start again on her date, but Lily grabbed her shoulder.

"I _do_ think so, because it is my duty to make sure there is no one using the Astronomy Tower for anything but class after eight o'clock. Guess what: it's 8:30."

"There's about twelve other people here!" Olivia pointed out furiously.

"Really?" Lily looked about benignly. "I hadn't noticed."

"You can't just punish me! McGonagall wouldn't stand for it!"

"I don't need to go to McGonagall. Snogging in the Astronomy Tower is on Filch's Forbidden List, and, as I'm sure you know, the violation of any rule on Filch's Forbidden List is punishable by the immediate deduction of up to fifty house points and detention. You just lost the Quidditch Cup for Slytherin... do you really want to lose the House Cup? How about _all _your Friday nights till the end of the year?"

Olivia fully detached herself from her date. "I'll see you later, Geoff," she said, not taking her eyes off Lily.

"I'm _Ivan_..."

"Whatever—just get lost."

Ivan skulked away, and Olivia put her hands on her hips. "Alright, Mudblood, what do you want?"

"It's real simple," said Lily coolly. "I want you to go into your Common room and get Severus Snape for me."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"What if he's not there?"

"Then you'll go see if he's in his dormitory—it wouldn't be the first time you've been there, I'm sure."

"Oh 'cos _you're_ Miss Virtue. Okay, I'll do it..." Olivia then added a rather offensive name under her breath. It did not actually _offend_ Lily, however, any more than she would be offended if a six-year-old called her "stupid."

"Same to you," replied the Gryffindor sweetly. "Lead the way, Olivia Dearest." And Olivia, with a venomous glare, complied.

* * *

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," announced James to the Marauders' Map. He was standing outside the closet on the sixth floor with the map, having left the cloak inside. Since he was planning to see McGonagall immediately, he did not want to be caught carrying it around when he met with her. As the map took form, he scanned it quickly for either his Transfiguration teacher or another member of the staff he trusted.

He spotted "Minerva McGonagall," or the dot that represented her anyway first. She was shown to be walking down the fourth floor corridor. James wiped the map clean and then hastily made for the stair. He only made it to fifth floor landing, however, when he met with—not McGonagall—but Filch.

"Potter," growled the caretaker. "It's after hours... you should be in your dormitory. Looks as if I'll have to give you a detention." He looked overtly gleeful.

"Listen, Sir," said James quickly; "I've got to see McGonagall. It's very important; I've _got _to speak with her!"

"About what?"

"It's... it's about something that happened. Please, sir, I've got to get to Professor McGonagall."

Filch smiled evilly, clearly enjoying this thoroughly. "You're lying, boy."

"I'm not!"

"Then prove it. Tell me what you're on about."

James did not see any way out of the situation, and he figured Filch would find out eventually anyway. "Professor Silth murdered Praedam," he blurted out. "In Hogsmeade. Tonight. I need to tell..."

"How did _you_ get to Hogsmeade?" Filch interrupted.

"There's a passageway on the sixth floor that I'd be absolutely delighted to show you some time, if..."

"Now."

"But, sir!"

"Show me, and I'll let you find McGonagall."

James considered this for a moment, then decided that, once again, he had no choice but to submit. "Come on then," he snapped, ignoring politeness. "Hurry, too." He led the way as fast as Filch could follow up the stair and along the corridor, until they arrived at the broom cupboard. "It's in there; the back wall... just tap it and say 'ostenda.' Then there's a passage."

The Head boy turned to leave, when Filch barked: "One last thing, Potter." James rotated back apprehensively. "Turn out your pockets."

"Sir..."

"Turn out your pockets, boy!"

James was in too much of a hurry to care. He pulled out the blank parchment that was the Marauders' Map and handed it to Filch.

"What's this?" the caretaker demanded.

"It's a birthday present," snapped James hurriedly. With that, he turned and sprinted down the corridor back to the stairway before Filch could further interrogate him.

Professor McGonagall was nowhere to be found on the fourth floor, but James had suspected that this might be the case. He continued down to the third floor, and the second, and when he came to the marble staircase above the Entrance Hall, he still had not found the Deputy Headmistress, or anyone else for that matter.

"James?"

James looked about and saw Keira Brighton, auror for the Ministry of Magic and former Hogwarts student, coming into the room from the Great Hall next door. She had been with Korcesh on the Hogwarts Express at the beginning of the year and stayed around with the other aurors in charge of protecting the school.

Relieved at a familiar face, James exhaled in relief, saying: "Bright! Thank Merlin! I need to talk to you... Praedam's been..."

"Killed. Yes, I know. I've been sent to look for _you_ actually."

"For me? Why?"

"You've been through a lot tonight, James," said Bright, uncharacteristically gentle, as she approached him. "I've been told to make sure you get to bed alright. You'll be questioned in the morning."

"Bright, last time I went to bed with information, I woke up with out it."

"You'll be perfectly safe, James," promised the young auror. "Besides the Ministry, no one knows you saw Silth kill Praedam, right?"

"But Korcesh doesn't kn..."

"Mr. Korcesh is with Silth now. He'll find out everything he needs to know—a very accomplished wizard, Gilbert Korcesh is."

"Bully for him, but..."

"Come on, James," said Bright, trying to steer him up the stairs. "You should get some sleep."

"Bright..."

"Come along, James."

He was helpless yet again to control the situation, and the Head Boy, more than a little bit angry, pulled his arm away from Bright's grasp. Nevertheless, he grudgingly followed her lead back to Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

"Thank you, Olivia Darling."

Olivia sent Lily her ninth cold glare of the evening, before stalking back into her Common Room. Severus Snape was left alone in the corridor with Lily, looking thoroughly bewildered and not a little irritated. True to Snape nature, he was glaring as he spoke.

"What do _you_ want, Mudblood?"

"Severus, I don't have time for you to be difficult," said Lily, speaking very quickly. "I _need_ to use your pensieve."

"I've already told..."

"...Me that you are an impossible person to deal with. So true. Listen, this isn't just for me, Severus. The whole school is at risk now!" Snape said nothing. "Please," continued Lily, sincerity shining in her eyes; "I'm begging, Severus. I've _got _to use a pensieve."

"_You_ do, or _Potter _does?"

"_I_ do. Potter... Potter doesn't even know I'm here!" Admittedly, a small lie, but Lily did not have time to feel guilty.

"What do you need to see? What's so important about it?"

"I... I can't tell you exactly..."

Snape did not even need to say anything this time. His eyes alone communicated that unless she gave him something more, he would not let her within a ten-yard radius of the pensieve.

"Alright," sighed the redhead. "I... I need to look into my own memories. I need to be able to find my way to a certain place, so I need to be able to look back at the last time I was there... from the third person. You're the only person I know for sure who has a pensieve, except Dumbledore."

"Where is this place you 'have' to see?"

"Severus..."

"Where is it?"

Lily exhaled deeply, conscious of the fact that James would be more than slightly livid if he heard what she was about to tell Snape. "In the Forbidden Forest." The Slytherin's eyes flashed as only his could.

"I knew it," he said, coolly victorious.

"Will you let me?" pleaded Lily, taking a step closer. "It's very important."

Snape paused, a strange look in his eyes as if he was not in the same room—not even on the same planet—as Lily. Then he said in his usual sharp drawl: "You can use the pensieve..." Lily breathed again; "...on one condition."

The Head Girl could not shake the feeling of foreboding as she asked cautiously: "What's that?"

"I get to see the memory too."

"You mean... come with me?"

Snape nodded.

Lily weighed her options. James would _not_ like this, she knew, but it did not look like she had a choice. Breathing heavily and feeling she would regret it very soon, Lily also nodded. "It's a deal."

* * *

Well, they could make him go to the Common Room, but they could not make him go to his dormitory. And even if they could, they could not make him sleep. And even if they could, they could _certainly _not make him happy about it. In that James found solace, while he sat before the fireplace in Gryffindor Tower, sulking. Redival was sitting in the corner with a sixth year boy, casting pointed glares at James in between loud laughs. Apparently, everything this bloke said was hilariously funny.

James found that he did not really care.

At the moment, all he could think about was what to do next. No one would listen to him now that he was supposed to sit like a good boy in the Common Room, while the grown-ups dealt with everything. It was so grossly unfair.

"Prongs, mate," said Peter, coming over to his fellow Marauder. "You look tired. You might want to get to bed..."

"I'm not tired and I don't want to go to bed, Wormtail," James snapped; "_You_ look unarmed and might want to leave me alone if you don't want to go to bed without any limbs." Peter caught the drift and, shrugging, went over to talk to Frank Longbottom.

James noticed that Frank did not look incredibly excited at the moment, and he seemed to welcome warmly Peter's company. His party up till then consisted only of himself and Gwen Avarius—his new girlfriend apparent. She looked almost as bored as he did. _Almost._

Watching the flames dance in the fireplace before him, James leaned back on the couch. No one else had joined him there and he had the fire to himself. They had apparently noticed that he was not in a mood to be bothered. However, most of the other Gryffindors attributed his mood to Redival's unsubtle flirtations with the sixth year. James did not care one way or the other what anyone thought, but rather cast his thoughts back to the village where Silth was undoubtedly being questioned at that moment. He almost smiled at how off he and Lily had been. The two—Praedam and Silth—had been working together all this time; _neither_ had been trustworthy. The two Head students had both been right in that sense. But Silth... Silth was working for Voldemort. _He_ was the spy. He must have managed to smuggle "The Foreigner" (whoever that was) into Hogwarts. Perhaps that was part of his job. Perhaps "The Foreigner" had taken a Pollyjuice Potion to pretend to be Silth and gain access to the school. It must have been he that had modified Lily and James's memories, though the "how" was still an unanswered question.

But one other question remained—the lingering question that James had not been able to solve all year. What did Voldemort want with Hogwarts? Evidently, he did not want to close it. He did not even want to take over. How did "The Foreigner" and Silth and everything else fit in with Voldemort's initial attack on the Hogwarts Express? James's head was beginning to hurt again... a deep ache from the core of his head.

"James?"

The Head Boy looked up to see Lexi Shaw standing over him. "Er... yeah?"

"Sorry to interrupt your thinking experience there, but have you seen Lily around?"

"Er... no. Why would I have seen her?" He may have spoken a little too hastily to be convincing, but that didn't seem to matter. If the chaser noticed, she did not comment on it.

Lexi shrugged. "You tell us. Only, she went for a walk fifteen minutes ago and hasn't come back."

"I don't know where she is." This was at least partially true. He didn't technically know _exactly_ where she was at that very moment.

"No? Well that's strange..." Lexi had an odd, knowing look in her eyes as she said it.

"What is?"

"Well, they're telling everyone to get into their Common Rooms aren't they? But _she's _no where to be found..."

"Mmmm... 'guess they just haven't caught up with her yet."

"'Suppose so..." Lexi made to leave, then turned back and added. "Why do _you _reckon they want everyone in the Common Rooms? You're Head Boy... if anyone would know, it would be you... has something happened?"

"What would have happened? And anyway, it's after curfew, so we're supposed to be in our Common Rooms no matter what, right?"

Lexi raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, that's true." She did not look wholly convinced. In fact, she did not look even a little bit convinced. Still, she did not further question him. "Goodnight, James," she said simply. "And nice catch, yesterday, by the way."

She departed to sit with Paul once again, and James was left to ponder the mystery that was Lexi Shaw. He was growing impatient and was not sure how much longer he could stand just sitting here, waiting. If only Lily would hurry up...

* * *

Lily looked about uncertainly. "You're _sure_ no one else will come in here?"

"No one ever comes down here," Snape told her, a little irritably. It was to be expected, however. He watched her carefully as she looked about the dungeon he had brought her to. It was dark, lit only by a few torches. He placed the basin of silvery liquid on the table, but did not say anything for some time.

"You ready then?" Lily asked eventually, drawing her wand. Snape raised his heavy eyebrows and the Head Girl could only assume that was an affirmative answer. She pointed her wand at her own temple and, muttering the spell she had looked up weeks before, pulled out a long silver strand of memory. She led the memory to the silver liquid and looked inside. There was the foggy image of trees, but not much else.

"You go first," Snape ordered. Lily made a face at his commanding tone, but reached out and touched the liquid's surface. There was the familiar pulling sensation in her stomach and Lily found herself falling as she had months earlier in Dumbledore's pensieve onto the grassy bank of the lake. Snape followed a moment later.

Lily got to her feet, surveying the scene about her. Everything was as it ought to have been. The trees stayed put and as Peter climbed out of the water, he was properly soaked. The Head Girl smiled unconsciously.

"What's so funny?" Snape wanted to know.

"Nothing, nothing," dismissed Lily. She pulled out from her jacket pocket the bit of parchment and auto-ink quill she had brought with her.

The memory-Lily was approaching James (to which Snape rolled his eyes), and the real-Lily observed the minute changes in the Head Boy. In the present day, his hair was longer and he seemed a bit taller; Lily did not suspect these differences to be due to a defective memory, though, but rather to the elapsing of eight months.

That was not all that had changed over the last eight months, Lily knew, as she watched the memory-James stroll over to pull Peter up. In September, she had loathed James with everything she was. Now... well now she was just confused. She did not hate him, of that she was certain, but James always had invoked emotion in her and he still did. Lily was simply confused as to how that could be if the emotion was not antipathy. These thoughts so distracted the Head Girl that she forgot that Snape was standing next to her. She did not realize that he was watching her with cold eyes, as her own eyes followed the memory-James's movements.

"...shit!" swore the Head Boy, jumping out of the way of a hex; numerous hexes began to rain down on the bank. Snape smirked. Lily rolled her eyes.

The two seventh years watched as Lily pulled James and Peter after her into the forest. "We should keep up," Snape told her needlessly, and they hurried after the three. Lily scribbled on her paper all sorts of notes about the path that her memory self—along with Peter and James—was taking. She made sure to record every twist in their path, how long they ran specifically, and any unusual physical features that caught her eye. She also made mental notes (which she did not write down) of things she had not realized when they had actually occurred... James helping her up twice when she tripped, for example.

It was hard to keep up with the other Lily, James, and Peter at first, but after about a quarter of an hour, the memory versions stopped for a rest and Snape and Lily managed to make it till then. Snape now spoke for the first time since they had started the pursuit.

"Where are your shoes?"

It took a moment for Lily to realize what he was talking about.

"Oh, they were left on the platform. I had to take them off..." Snape snorted. "Don't laugh... it was a serious situation. I got attacked by a death eater."

"What did the death eater do?" Snape asked, not sounding any less amused.

Lily did not answer, because she thought it sounded a little melodramatic to tell him the truth: the Cruciatus Curse. The Slytherin did not press her for answers however, and instead they listened to a bit of the conversation.

"What? What's the matter?" Peter was asking, frightened.

"Nothing," the eight-month-younger Lily groaned sarcastically. "We're just lost in the indefinitely large Forbidden Forest."

"Oh."

"Okay, let's think calmly," said James, clearly not doing so himself. "We know the forest pretty well, right Wormtail?"

"You would," Lily heard Snape murmur. She looked curiously over at him, but he did not notice. He pretended not to, in any case.

"Well... we just have to think calmly..." James repeated.

"You said that already," said a cheeky Lily.

"Shut up, Red. I'm trying to think."

"Operative word being 'trying.'"

The real Lily could not help being a little embarrassed by this bit of dialogue. Was she really that annoying? She blushed a little and made a note to watch it with the sarcasm in the future.

Another bit of banter followed, then the group began to walk back in the direction they had come from. Lily and Snape followed, glad to be walking instead of running. She continued to take notes, but he did not persist in his silence.

"Your memories are very dull," the Slytherin told her after a brief period.

"This isn't my most lively one, believe me," murmured Lily, not looking up from where she was scribbling a note on her parchment. "But it might be my most important."

Snape raised his eyebrows at the forest surroundings. "That's rather sad."

Lily smiled and shook her head. "Such a pessimist."

_"...And Harrighagen said the best strategy for a seeker- under any circumstances- is fly... and fly fast," _the memory-James was saying. The real Lily noticed it no longer made her head twinge.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" the memory-Lily was demanding.

"A fair question," Snape noted.

Lily—the real Lily—smirked and said, at the exact same time James—the memory James—said: "It's poetic."

"It's Quidditch," corrected memory-Lily.

"It's stupid," said Snape.

"It's so very James," observed real-Lily.

"So he's 'James' is he?" Snape mocked vituperatively. "You've joined the fan club like the other flaky girls. The Great _Potter_... oh, everyone loves him and his wonderful Quidditch playing... bloody tosser. Doesn't know up from down... head as empty as a cauldron. Implanted ideas..."

If Lily had been paying attention, she would probably have interrupted Snape's rant with a snappy retort, but she was too busy looking ahead of where the figures of her memory were walking. They were all of three yards behind the tree that they were about to duck behind. The Real-Lily stopped walking.

"Well... er... we can go now," she said hastily to Snape, interrupting his torrents of "Precious Potter... so wonderful..."

"This is the place where you needed to get to?" he asked in a much more rational voice.

"Well... yeah. Sure."

Snape raised his eyebrows, unconvinced, and turned to look at where James, Lily, and Peter were peering around the tree. As the memory-Lily snuck around to peer around the next tree, Snape turned back, the corners of his thin mouth curving into a sneer, and looked at the real Lily.

"What doesn't Mudblood Evans want me to see?"

"What's none of your business!" replied Lily coolly.

"But it's _my_ pensieve. It _is_ my business."

He took a step forward, but Lily grabbed his wrist and, concentrating hard, she found herself landing on the dungeon floor a moment later. Snape was next to her, and he looked angry.

"The condition was..." he began heatedly, but Lily interrupted.

"The condition _was_ that you would be able to see the memory with me. There was no contractual article stating you got to see whatever the hell you wanted from my head." Snape glared, but the Head Girl ignored him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to..."

"Why did you need that memory?"

"I told you."

"Why did you need to get to that place in the forest?"

"That's none of your business."

"It has to do with Potter, doesn't it? You two are sneaking about, playing detectives. I should warn you not to—you're getting in over your head."

"I don't know what you're..."

"That's not true, Evans. I would suggest you listen to me. It's for _your_ own good." His eyes flashed darkly. Lily simply stared at him stonily.

"If you'll excuse me," she repeated coldly, and she turned and hurried out of the dungeon.

* * *

Redival took the seat next to James.

James looked over at her, surprised.

"Hey," she said gently.

"Er... hi..."

"James, it's really sad that you're sitting here, moping like this."

"I wasn't..."

"...But at the same time, it's really sweet."

"It... it is?"

"Yes. I mean, it shows how good our relationship is, doesn't it?"

James stared at her for almost a full minute. She was smiling cheerfully at the "goodness of their relationship." He was waiting for her to break and say "April Fools!" but when she did not, he wondered if she was expecting _him_ to.

"Well, er... Redival..."

"And James, I want you to know, I don't blame you for Sirius and Rachel breaking up. I hope you didn't think that I did."

"I... I really don't know where I could get such an idea."

Redival seemed to miss the sarcasm. "Well, anyway. They're back together now, and everything will be just fine. It'll be just like it was before. And I completely forgive you for yelling at me any everything by the lake... oh, you don't need to say anything. It's fine. Everything's going to be great now."

James was rather glad that he apparently did not need to say anything, because he was thoroughly incapable of it at the moment. He wasn't quite sure _what_ to say, but he knew there was something that must be said. This couldn't be right. It just couldn't be. She was accepting his apology, for one thing, and he had not even apologized.

"I'm _so_ tired," yawned the blonde, before he could compose his thoughts into articulate sentences. "I got up so early and I didn't sleep so well last night... I had a headache this morning, too. I drank last night, you know. A shot of Firewhiskey... Merlin, it does things to your head."

James nodded, confused.

"I'd better get some sleep," continued Redival. "Goodnight." She leaned over and kissed him most unchastely on the lips. James only barely had time to reciprocate (he was still wondering how it was earthly possible to get a headache from _one_ shot of Firewhiskey or go to bed prior to nine o'clock), before she rose and walked up to her dormitory.

James sat very still after she had gone, trying to figure out what had just happened, when the sarcastic voice of Lily Evans interrupted him. "Enjoying yourself?" Her hands were on her slim hips and her eyebrows were raised.

"Where've you been?" James asked hastily in a loud whisper, getting to his feet and ignoring her question.

"Busy."

"With Snape? Well now I know how you expected to get the pensieve..."

"Well clearly I haven't been as busy as you have," snapped Lily. "It was very generous of you and Redival to give those first years a demonstration of how babies are made."

"Oh, shut up. Did you get the directions? Well, did you?"

"I thought I was supposed to shut up."

"I generally don't hit girls, but you're sorely tempting me."

"Tell me, James, do you _hit_ Redival?"

"No, I... now that's really just unnecessary, Red."

"Can I help it if you see innuendoes in everything?"

James rolled his eyes. "Let's just... _concentrate_ on the issue at hand, okay?"

"Who's not concentrating?"

"And _I'm_ supposed to be the immature one."

"You are."

"Alright, whatever. Just let me... let me see the directions."

"What do you say?"

"I say _give me the sodding directions_."

Lily handed him the parchment from her pocket. "Someone's in a bad mood."

"That would be me..." muttered James, while reading over the Lily's hurried scrawl. "You couldn't have... drawn a map or something?"

"Not very easily... it was hard enough what I did. Anyway, did you talk to McGonagall?"

"Well," said James slowly. "There's been a slight hitch in the proceedings."

"A hitch," Lily repeated.

"Yeah, a hitch."

"Define 'hitch.'"

"Problem, drawback, glitch. Need I go on?"

"I mean, is that a 'hitch' as in you've got a splinter in your toe, or a 'hitch' as in the Forbidden Forest has exploded?"

"It's a 'hitch' as in we can't tell the Aurors about this."

Lily was visibly surprised by this. "I guess that would fall closer to the second category. But if you don't mind my asking—why the hell not?"

"They won't listen to me, and probably not you, either. They just want all the students in the Common Rooms, because _Korcesh_ is dealing with it in the Village."

"But you were there!" cried Lily, rather loudly so that James had to hush her. "But you were there!" she repeated, in a much quieter tone. "Don't they want to question you?"

"Bright—that's, Keira Brighton; she's an Auror—said they were going to question me in the morning. She wouldn't listen to a word I said... I couldn't get to McGonagall or anyone."

"But the last time you went to bed with a memory, you woke up without it!"

"That's exactly... well almost exactly... what _I_ said!"

People were beginning to stare and it was Lily who first noticed this. "Er... but... but I can't have a head meeting tomorrow!" she said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. I'll have homework and studying and... other stuff... to do..." She broke off, having run out of things to say.

"Wha...? Oh. _Oh!_ Well... um... I didn't have anything to do with planning it! I couldn't stop it! McGonagall just chose that..."

"You know what? I don't care what you have to say Potter!"

"Well... fine... I'll just... write down—write down the time... the time of the meeting for you! Seeing as you're... er... _stupid..._ and will probably forget... and..."

"You do that!"

"I will."

"Good."

"Great... er... got any parchment?"

Lily rolled her eyes and provided a bit of the paper that was left over from the trip in the pensieve. "Here's something to write with as well..." She offered the auto-ink quill.

"It's tiny," observed James, taking it.

"Pocket size."

"Very nice."

"Thank you."

He scribbled something hastily on the parchment and then handed it to her. "I'm going to bed," he informed her in an artificially cool voice, which came off very convincing. "Goodnight, _Evans_."

"Goodnight, _Potter_," she snapped in reply. Once he was gone, Lily sat down on the sofa and read the note.

"_Go to your dormitory and stay there. I'll be by in an inconspicuous manner soon. Make sure your roommates are not there."_

Lily folded the parchment up and pocketed it, looking around. Eden had gone to bed quite early... hopefully she would be asleep. Lexi and Alice were still in the Common Room, and though Rachel was absent from the scene, Lily was fairly certain that she was not up in the dormitory.

The Head Girl was walking toward the stair, when Lexi came over.

"Hey, we were looking for you," said the dark-haired girl. "Where were you?"

"I went for a walk," shrugged Lily.

"Long walk."

"There was a lot to think about."

Lexi nodded. "Listen, is Eden okay?"

"What... what do you mean?" Lily mentally slapped herself for the terrible cover.

"We didn't see her _all day_, then Black and Rachel show up, then she shows up utterly normal, talks with you, and goes to bed. Something's going. We get it if you can't explain it to us, so all we want to know is... is she okay?"

Lily nodded slowly. "Yeah," she said honestly. "She's fine."

"Fine about everything? Fine about Sirius and Rachel?"

Lily nodded again. "Mhm."

Lexi watched her friend carefully for a moment, then, brushing her curtain of black hair out of her eyes, said: "Alright. Are you going up to bed?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about it. I'm still exhausted from last night."

"'Kay then. Farewell. Goodnight. All that jazz."

"Goodnight, Lex."

Lexi returned to Paul again, and Lily was left with a clear path to the dormitory. She took the stair up to the room, pushing thoughts of Lexi and Eden out of her mind, and wondering how Potter planned to get to her into the Girls' Dormitory. Boys were generally unable to get in there; this was common knowledge. He certainly would not be able to use the stair, for the Founders had fixed it so only those of the female sex could climb it. However, James was not exactly the typical boy. The Founders could not have anticipated James Potter when they made ground rules.

The dormitory was quiet. Lily tiptoed over to Eden's bed and whispered her friend's name. There was no answer. Lily peaked inside the curtains and saw that her friend was, in fact, fast asleep. She privately marveled over the gift Eden must possess, for Lily knew that she herself could not naturally fall asleep before ten o'clock, no matter _how _tired she was.

She checked Rachel's bed for good measure and the bathroom, but both were empty. Then, because she did not know what she could do, Lily sat down at the vanity and waited for James to "come by in an inconspicuous manner." A few minutes passed and he did not come.

Lily, wondering if it was all some kind of trick—because that was _exactly _the type of thing James would do—, got to her feet. She walked to the door and was about to go to the boys' dormitory, when she heard someone call her name. The alien voice was coming from behind Lily, however, and she wheeled around hastily to see who was in her dormitory.

"_Lily!"_ repeated James Potter's voice, and she jumped.

"How the hell...?"

She spotted him. He was not in her dormitory. He was outside the window.

"Oh my Merlin!"

Lily darted to the window to see exactly how he had managed this. He was (and she knew she should have suspected it) hovering on his broom, looking mildly ridiculous and telling her to hurry up.

"Hurry up what?" she demanded, hands on her hips. "I'm not getting on that thing with you."

"Are you _afraid_, Red?" asked James, either irritated or amused. Or both.

"Not of flying, no. But I've seen you fly—there is _no way in hell_ I am going to get on that broom with you."

"We won't be playing sodding Quidditch. Move out of the way, alright?"

Hesitantly, Lily moved out of James's way, pulling the curtains with her. It was lucky they had left the window open. Eden always liked to. James, very carefully, steered the broom through the window. Once landed on the floor, he gestured for Lily to come over. Thankful she had elected to wear jeans today, rather than a skirt, Lily reluctantly walked over to where he had landed.

"In front or behind?"

The Head girl raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Do you want to sit in front on the broom, or behind me?"

"_Behind_ you, thanks."

"Well come on, then."

It was a little tricky getting them both on properly, but when they were situated, James said: "Remember to duck your head when we go out the window... you'd better hold my waist, since you won't be able to stay on just holding the broom. Don't hold too tight. Ready?"

"Yeah." She wrapped her arms around his waist, ignoring the slight increase of her heart rate. James kicked off, and the rush nearly overcame her as she gripped tighter to James. They maneuvered out the window with relative ease (Lily remembered to duck), but once they were outside, it was heaven.

The cold air bit at her face, but it felt indescribably refreshing. Her hair, she knew, would be a disaster when they landed, but that meant little to her now.

James, being James, could not fly just normally. He leaned forward on the broomstick and looped around one of the castle towers. Lily gasped a little at the sudden jolt in her stomach, and then kicked James in the ankle.

"Stop trying to scare me!"

"Who's trying?"

She kicked him again. "C'mon... we need to get to the forest without the whole castle seeing us."

James sighed but steered the broom back on course. When the landed, an idea struck him. "Couldn't we fly over the forest to find the clearing?"

"Do you think we could see it up there? The trees cover it pretty well, if you remember."

The Head Boy nodded. "Well, it was just a thought. Where do we enter? Wait a minute—I have to deal with this..." He held up their mode of transportation. Lily nodded.

James looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, then raised his wand and placed the broom on the ground. He brought his arm around in a complicated swishing motion and muttered something under his breath. Lily could not help but be impressed, as Transfiguration was not her best subject (though not her worst), by the ordinary tree branch that had replaced the sleek broomstick.

"I'll come back for it later..." James explained, picking it up. He hurried over to Hagrid's hut, which was nearby, and placed it flat on the ground next to the wall. No one was likely to notice it, but he would be able to find it. He returned to Lily and repeated: "Where do we enter?"

Lily already had her directions out and read the first bit. "I guess... hmmm... well, it would be a little farther that way." She pointed ahead and James followed her, as they jogged along to where Lily pointed. "Does this look right to you?" she asked, surveying the spot.

James thought carefully about what the scene had looked like when he had climbed out of the lake so many months ago. A jab of pain shot through his head.

His hand automatically flew to his forehead, and he massaged the front for a moment, shutting his eyes. It was worse than his hangover.

"It looks like the... are you alright, James?" Lily hurried over and looked at him carefully. When he did not answer, she repeated: "_James_! Are you alright?"

"Uh... yeah. Yeah, I'm okay... ish."

"A headache?"

He nodded.

"The memories are coming back more I guess. The forest must have spurred it, like it did when you said 'Harrighagen' way back when."

James nodded again, wincing.

"Alright. Can you... can you move?"

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine... okay." He straightened up and they began to walk into the forest. James was trying to hide his pain—Lily could tell. He did not want her to know exactly how much agony he was going through right now, but she knew it was a lost cause. She had gone through at least the same thing the previous month. She had passed out because of it. She knew what he was going through, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

"Okay," she said slowly. "We just head straight for a while until we come to... Oh Merlin, James! Are you okay? No, you're not, so don't' even say you are."

James was on his knees. His hands hid his face and he was clearly muffling the shouts of pain that longed to be heard. He groaned and moved his hands away, trying to get to his feet, but not quite managing it.

"Don't, James," advised Lily quickly. "There's no way you can do this... it's hurting you too much..."

"No, I'm fine... I can..." he broke off and moaned in agony.

"I was in the hospital wing for nearly three days because of this... you won't be able to move. I'll... I'll take you back to the castle and go myself."

"N-n-no... you c-c-can't go yourself. You'll..."

"I'll be_ fine_, James. C'mon... let's go. Just try to get to your feet and..."

"No," interrupted the Head Boy. "No, I'll... I can stay here. I'll catch up when I can m-m-m-move proper... properly."

"James Potter, I'm not going to leave you here."

"Go," snapped James through gritted teeth. "You've g-got to."

"Anything could happen to you! I can't leave you!"

"Y-y-yes, yes, you can! Go!"

"James, I..."

"G-Go now, Lily! This h-has to be done. W-w-we've got to find out what's happening here tonight. Someone's got to find... find out who the—who 'The Foreigner' is... who mod-modified Grossman's memories a-a-and ours. What... what V-Voldemort's planning... planning to do."

"James..."

"Go now... no, w-w-wait. Dupli...duplicate the p-p-parchment f-f-for me, so I can..." He could not finish the sentence, but Lily already knew what to do. She pointed her wand at the instructions and muttered a charm. Then, she pointed her wand at the air and a minute later, a piece of parchment exactly like the other appeared. Lily caught it as it began to fall and handed it to James.

"Listen, are you s...?"

"Go, Lily! There's... there's no time!"

Reluctantly and very near tears, Lily got to her feet. Her heart was racing. "You... Keep your wand out, okay?"

"GO!"

_"_James, I..."

"Leave n-n-now, Lil—Lily! J-just g-go!"

Feeling guilty and hating herself for it, Lily turned and hurried away. James watched her go for a few seconds, before she disappeared into the dark between the trees.

_

* * *

_

**Note:** voi la! Again, not my favorite. I don't know what's up with me. I did like some parts though. I liked with Lily told James off for "showing the first years how babies are made." Next chapter is pretty much done, but, as it's another cliffhanger, I want to make sure I'm well underway with Chapter 23 before I post it. If that makes sense. Anyway, I love the wonderful people who have reviewed thus far—you guys are fantastic :-P Much love and cookies

Signed-in reviewers have their kosher responses. Many thanks to the anonymous reviewer: the wonderful **Karen** (hahaha—I'll put your worries at rest, hon: if there's one thing I suck at, it's mushy fluff. One annoying thing in JL fanfiction is that they very frequently lose all appeal and chemistry (for me, anyway) once they get together. That is one thing I intend to avoid. There will be Lily-James-ness, but there is _not_ ouch-my-tooth-hurts-sweet mush. Scouts honor. Thanks for the review :-P).

Eyes out for Chapter 22, titled as of now: "The Lady and The Night."

Cheers,  
_Jewels_


	22. The Lady and the Night

**Note:** I am super unmotivated right now. Thank you to everyone who reviewed Chapter 21, though—you guys were the only reason I updated at all. Love you to pieces!

**History**: I own ur mom. I don't own Harry Potter.

**Recap**: Silth kills Praedam, almost killing James, but Gilbert Korcesh (Ministry guy) rescues him, and James goes to the castle to talk to McGonagall (Dumbledore is away from the school). He meets up with Lily, tells her everything, and she goes to retrieve her memories using Snape's pensieve. James can't find McGonagall and is forced to go to the Common Room. Lily comes to him later with directions to _The Clearing_ in the forest, believing Silth is scheduled to meet "The Foreigner" there. The two sneak out. In the forest, James's memories begin to return in the same painful way they returned to Lily months before. But worse. Lily must go on alone, and James is left behind.

**Happy (Late) Birthday to WutevaChica!**

And now: a few (well... one or two) answers to _jamesnlilyforever_'s dramatic questions:

**Chapter 22- "The Lady and the Night"  
**"_He that can't endure the bad will not live to see the good"_ –Jewish Proverb

It was quiet, Lily noticed. Unnaturally so. In fact, the only sounds that disturbed the almost flawless silence seemed to be her own footsteps on twigs and dead leaves, and the occasional hoot of an owl that never ceased to make her jump. Other than that, however, the forest gave the distinct impression of being wholly dead.

James was far out of Lily's sight, but not at all out of her mind. With every hasty step, a new wave of guilt flooded her. If something happened to him while he as incapacitated, it would be _her_ fault. If someone (a Death Eater, for example) found him there... she shuddered at the thought. She quickened her pace and tried to concentrate.

As she walked, Lily was consulting her memory, the parchment, and her surroundings, but it was tedious work and did not completely occupy her mind. Lily hated this. It was dangerous. If her mind was not busy enough, she was allowed to be afraid, which was something she could not afford at the moment. James could not be thought of, for between Lily's worry, guilt, and whatever was causing that irritating pang in her stomach, _that_ line of thought distracted her _too_ much. Therefore, she occupied her mind with turning over everything James had told her of Gracechurch and Silth's conversation in the Three Broomsticks.

Elliot.

Well, that much made sense. It was among the few things that did. The letter on Praedam's... _Gracechurch's_, that is... desk on Halloween had been signed: "Elliot." It had not been written _to_ Praedam, but _by _him. Then, there had been the "E" on the trunk in the office that day as well. Lily knew she had been an idiot for not seeing all this earlier. She shook off another guilty feeling and read the next bit of her directions.

_"Large evergreen on right. Huge trunk. Turned right after the smaller tree immed. following..."_

The large tree was some two yards ahead, and Lily recognized it immediately. She hurried up to it and followed the directions on the parchment. After that, the instructions simply read to continued straight for a few minutes until she came to a ditch on the side of the unmarked path.

As she complied, Lily's mind drifted again, only somewhat controlled. Silth and _Gracechurch_ must have been thieves of some sort. Conmen. From what she could surmise by James's retelling, they were trying to steal something from the school, a valuable. That made sense if they were working for themselves, but if Silth had been hired by someone else, who would want something from the school? Or rather, if that someone was Voldemort, as Lily believed, why would _he_ want something from the school?

Perhaps it _wasn't _Voldemort who had hired Silth.

Lily reached the hole. It was about two feet in diameter at the top, and about a foot deep. She could only guess the origins. Without stopping to investigate however, Lily read the next part of her directions, then continued on.

'_But it _has_ to be Voldemort'_ she could not help but thinking_. 'This clearing was used by the Death Eaters. Surely Silth wouldn't use it if he knew that Voldemort used it but wasn't involved with them... and he _does_ know. Dumbledore told all the staff back in September...'_

The Head Girl's thoughts were suddenly interrupted, however. She had stepped on something hard that did not sound like leaves or sticks. Bending over to investigate, Lily discovered that it was glass. It had not cut her shoe or injured her foot, however, for she had stepped on a dull side. She picked it up for examination and noticed that there was another piece of identical glass lying on the ground next to where the first had been. Both were oddly shaped, clean-cut slabs, and both were considerably dirty. One had a bit of moss growing on it.

Realization hit Lily as she took the two slabs of glass and fitted them together. They formed a goblet (though a few minor shards were obviously missing) of a quite unusual shape. She recognized it almost immediately. She had seen it before. It was the goblet that James had conjured for Peter when they had finished the initial sprint, eight months before. Lily checked her watch: it had taken her about twenty-five minutes to get here. She took the small, auto-ink quill from the pocket of her jeans and noted this on the parchment. Then, she put the glass down and, rising, looked about hastily.

There was the mossy rock on which she had cared for her cut up feet. There was the log that James had rested on to think. The whole scene was very familiar.

Lily went to the rock and sat down, just as she had back in September. Then, she turned on the rock and got up. That was the direction that they had taken next. Lily continued on her course.

A few minutes passed. The excitement of finding the glass goblet was replaced once more by a nervousness that settled in the pit of her stomach and which Lily did her very best to ignore. Still, she could not help but jump when she heard something that sounded frighteningly like a distant wolf howl.

They had studied wolf howls verses werewolf howls in Lily's Defense Against the Dark Arts class some years ago, but she was in no state to distinguish _this_ particular noise at the moment. All she could do was hope (and the irony did not escape her) that it was a wolf, and not a werewolf, that was running about. Lily had noted the full moon, of course, for it was the moon that provided the light by which she was reading the directions. Perhaps it was a coincidence...?

Lily shut her eyes and inhaled deeply.

_'Come on, Lily_,' she thought, firmly. '_You've got this. You can do this_.'

She opened her eyes again and continued on.

However, Lily had not walked five steps before another alien sound met her ears—one much more threatening than the last. It was a footstep, but it was not her own. Lily raised her wand and quickly ducked behind a nearby tree.

_'It could be James,' _she reminded herself, though rather unconvincingly.

The footstep turned into a series of footsteps, growing closer and closer to where Lily was. She judged with fair certainty that there was only one set, but if there was one, there could very easily be others on the way. The steps approached the area just behind Lily's tree, and when she thought that they must probably be just around the edge, she revealed herself.

Before she saw or could register anything more concrete than the figure of a man, she had shouted: "Expelliarmus!" and a wand flew into the air. Lily caught it, and the owner of the wand flew back. The stranger got to his feet, and before Lily could even shout the order of "Stay there!" which was on the tip of her tongue, he spoke.

"Evans?"

Lily recognized the voice immediately. "Snape?"

The pallid face, crooked nose, and sharp black eyes of Severus Snape came into view as he stepped into better light. He was glaring, as per usual, but he did not appear half as surprised to see Lily as she was to see him. They watched each other dubiously for a moment, before the Slytherin spoke once more.

"May I have my wand back, _Evans_?" Apparently he believed using her surname, rather than other names less civilized would induce her into a more compliant mood.

Lily raised her eyebrows. She lowered her wand, but did not return his immediately. "What are you doing here, Snape?"

"I don't think it's any of your business."

"I beg to differ."

Snape hesitated, than continued in a reluctant but factual voice: "I was curious."

"Curious about what?"

"About what exactly happened in the pensieve after we departed that made you believe you had to come back into the forest."

"I thought you already knew all about the forest," Lily pointed out coolly. "You nearly said as much back in December. You acted as if you knew all about what James and I had found here."

"Hoping you would give something away, yes, I did. I knew part of what had happened and was _curious_ to know the rest."

"Why?"

"You're here because you're curious, are you not? Isn't that reason enough?"

Lily shook her head. "I'm not here to quench my own curiosity, Snape. But it doesn't matter. I suppose you're probably not going to kill me." She handed him his wand and turned back to the invisible path before her. She glanced down at her parchment and read, meanwhile saying to Snape: "You should go. You've got no reason to be here, except to make me homicidal."

"Mmmm... but finding _you_, Evans, has only heightened my curiosity."

"Well, you know all about that proverbial cat and such, I suppose."

"Curiosity didn't kill the cat."

"No, I suppose that was you. Cat butcher."

"Better watch yourself, Mudblood," bit Snape, following Lily a few paces behind. Having regained his wand, he could be as uncivil as he desired. "There's only you and I and this forest. If anything should happen, I would be the only one who could help you. There's no _Potter_ to protect you."

Lily's mind jumped back to James and she wheeled around, with sudden inspiration. "Did you see him?" she demanded quickly.

"Whom?"

"Potter—James? Did you see him? He would have been just a couple of yards into the forest... well, did you?"

Snape's eyes narrowed slightly. "No," he said. "He wasn't there. Should he be?"

Lily shook her head vaguely, hiding every emotion passing through her as she turned around once more and continued on the path. There were, of course, a million possible reasons why James would not be discovered by Snape. He might have been hiding, not wanting strangers to find him in his present, less capable state. Or perhaps he had recovered and was on his way to find her at this moment. But these more hopeful rationalizations hardly dispelled Lily's fears, for she could not help but notice that it would be difficult for James to hide from anyone in his condition and also that even if he did recover and attempt to follow Lily, it was unlikely that neither Snape nor she had caught sight or sound of him. There was also the possibility that something had happened to James... he might have been discovered by Death Eaters...

Lily's respiratory systems did not seem to be working quite right as she traveled down this line of thought. What if he was injured? What if he had been killed? No. She would not let herself believe it or even think of it. He would not let himself be killed. It was completely out of character for him. In _that_, Lily had faith.

"So _Potter did_ come along with you, did he?" Snape's voice cut in, disturbing the silence and (much more dangerously) Lily's thoughts.

"What? Oh, yeah. He did."

The Slytherin made an amused, cynical sound, adding: "But where is he now?"

"He was hurt," Lily replied tersely.

"Oh, of course. Gravely hurt, surely. _Potter_ the brave _Potter_ the strong... He couldn't quite make it, though... He sent the girl along by herself, did he?"

Lily was incensed—infuriated, even—but with every ounce of self-control she managed to stop herself from turning around and hexing Snape into next Tuesday. She bit her lip and read the next bit of writing on the parchment.

"That's it then," Snape continued, scoffing. "Wonderful _Potter_ is a coward. Not that it's a shock... it's always been evident. Now it's unavoidable..."

Still, she said nothing.

_"_What was his claim, I wonder. Did he... sprain an ankle? Get a splinter? Lose an eyelash? Break a fingerna...?"

"Snape," interrupted Lily sharply.

"Mmm?"

"Shut up."

Snape characteristically glared, but uncharacteristically complied. Lily was a very little bit satisfied, and they continued onward.

At length, the Head Girl lit up her wand and held it over the parchment, for the moon was obscured by the thick overhanging of the trees. Her heart leapt when she read the next line of instructions. If they were at the place she thought they were at, they were close to the clearing.

Lily was so caught up in double-checking that they were in the right place, however, that she did not notice a thick root that stuck out of the ground at and odd angle. Her foot got caught on the root and Lily tripped. She cried out not too loudly in surprise as she fell to the ground, luckily catching herself on her knees. Snape was visible out of the corner of her eye. He moved as if he was about to help her up, but then stopped himself suddenly. Lily pretended not to have noticed and, grumbling, got to her feet.

"Well thanks a lot there, Prince Charming," she muttered sardonically. "I don't know what I would've done without you."

"You think that I would stoop to the level of someone like you," Snape retorted angrily. "A mudblood..."

Lily rolled her eyes. "You don't really believe that, Snape. You're too intelligent to honestly believe that pureblood-superiority stuff the others propagate."

"Don't tell me what I believe and don't believe."

"You're pathetic, you know," Lily continued, as if she had not heard him. "You've got all this potential and what do you do with it? Study areas of magic no one should dig into. It really is sad..."

"Why you filthy, ungrateful little..." Snape drew his wand and for half a second, Lily thought he had hexed her, for a jet of red light flew past her ear. Then, she realized that the light had come from somewhere behind Snape. Someone else was attacking them. In one movement, Lily pushed Snape's arm down, shoved him out of the way, and shot a stunning spell in the direction of their attacker. Then, she pulled Snape after her, ducking behind the large trunk of a tree.

"What the...?"

"Shhh!" commanded Lily, and with good reason. A jet of blue light sped past them and then suddenly the whole area was alight with hexes that streaked through the air. The Death Eaters, it would seem, had found them.

The curses seemed to be coming from all directions and Lily barely knew where to begin defending herself.

"What's going on?" Snape demanded.

"You wanted to come along," Lily reminded him. "Don't complain! Look—to your left! Get him!"

Snape whipped around and shot a cruse in the direction Lily was pointing. The attacker was hit, but Lily did not have time to notice the fact, for she was now occupied in defending their right. She shot a stunning spell in the direction that one had just come from and was fairly certain she hit her target, though when she tried to hit another of the dark figures with the "Levicorpus" curse, she knew she had missed. Still, the attacker had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit and was no longer an imminent threat.

"What have you got me into?" Snape growled, leaning against the trunk of the tree that hid them, so that he had better aim at one of the figures. Lily rolled her eyes, stunning an attacker as she did so.

"I haven't got you into anything," she quietly snapped. "_You _got you into this... now listen, on the count of three, we're going to move behind that tree there... stay low. It'll buy us time. One... two... three!" The pair ran—backs bent forward to avoid the onslaught of spells—to the nearby tree. This one had a wider trunk and many shrubs for cover.

"We're going to get killed," Snape muttered angrily, as if the very thought was more offensive than actually frightening to him. He slid into a sitting position and checked his shoulder. The attackers did not seem to have noticed that they had moved yet.

"Listen up," whispered Lily, ignoring Snape's complaint and speaking hastily. "You can get out of here. I'll cover for you. Go back to the castle as fast as you can and find McGonagall or Slughorn or _someone_. Tell them exactly what I've done and that there are—_Stupefy! —_Shit, they've found us. Tell them there are death eaters in the Forbidden Forest... give _this_ to McGonagall or whoever..." She handed to him the parchment on which the directions were written. "Go when I say it's safe..."

"You could be killed," Snape pointed out.

"All the better for you, right? Okay... go... go... go now! Hurry!"

Snape got to his feet and scrambled, keeping as low as possible, away from Lily and the protective tree. Lily was too busy fighting off the attackers to watch his exit, but she knew he had gone. She whipped around the side of the tree trunk, casting a stunning spell towards one of the distant figures. Without waiting to see the effect, she dropped to her knees and began to crawl as fast as she could to the shelter of another tree. Behind a narrower trunk, Lily straightened and scoped the situation. She had to cover both left and right now, which would be difficult.

Turning to her right, Lily sent a hex into a dark gap between trees and in doing so narrowly missed being hit by a jet of yellow light herself. Lily ducked and got to her knees again, with the intent of moving once more. She shot one last spell towards the right and was about to hurry to a new hiding spot, when suddenly a num feeling hit her between the shoulder blades. The world became hazy around her and Lily dropped to her hands for support.

Every thing grew blacker still and the last thought that she properly registered was the recognition that she had been hit. Then, the world flickered and faded into darkness.

* * *

"She's coming around, Harris." 

"Well thank-you for telling her my name, _Tisket_."

"What does it matter? She'll be dead by the end of the night..."

"Shut up and stand back, will you?"

Slowly and cautiously, Lily opened her eyes. It was very bright, and at first, Lily could not distinguish any particular shape. Then, as everything came into focus, she saw treetops and a small circle of the night sky.

"Sit her up," ordered one of the male voices that had spoken before.

Lily felt large hands pulling her to a sitting position and she winced in pain. Her back was awfully sore, but she remembered why. She had been hit by a stunning spell in that spot.

Dark figures were moving around her. They, in turn, also grew clearer also, confirming Lily's suspicions. The long black cloaks, skull-like masks, and unrevealing hoods could only mean that these were Death Eaters. There were two standing with her, but besides the three of them, there did not seem to be anyone else around.

Ropes cut into Lily's ankles and wrists, the latter of which were tied behind her back. There was nothing to stop her from speaking, however. She did not need to ask where she was, for that much she knew. They were in a round, basin-like clearing; orbs of light around the circumference of it as well as her own logic told Lily that this was the clearing she, James, and Peter had been to back in September. Since she already knew the answer to the most obvious question in situations such as these, therefore, she cleared her throat to ask the second most obvious one.

"What do you want with me?" Her voice was a little croaky, but the two Death Eaters seemed to understand her all right.

"Don't tempt me," laughed one of them maliciously. Lily did not say anything, but waited for a more satisfactory answer.

"Shut up, Tisket," snapped the other Death Eater (Harris presumably), who was standing closer to Lily. "Perhaps the thought has crossed your mind, so I would recommend you do not try to apparate away. There's a spell on you that will only make it a regrettable decision, should you attempt to."

"What do you want?" Lily repeated.

"You're here, Girl," her captor continued, "Because you did not mind your own business. What we want from you is to make sure you won't go spreading information that is not yours to spread."

"Then why don't you kill me?"

"Because we have neither had orders nor reasons to do so. Yet."

Lily could not think of any response to this, so she again maintained silence. Her head ached. She was not quite capable of thinking up interesting replies to every little thing that was said to her.

"If you're cooperative," continued the Death Eater, "Then the Dark Lord may be more inclined towards mercy."

"'Cooperative...'" she echoed uncertainly.

"Tell us what we want to know," Harris clarified. "For example, who else knows where you are?"

Lily hesitated. "I told McGonagall and a few wizards from the Ministry of Magic," she lied at last.

"Which ones?" pressed the Death Eater.

"Brighton, Moody, and Korcesh."

Harris chuckled and took a few steps closer to Lily. He squatted down so that his eyes were only a few meters away from hers. "You're lying," he told her.

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are. You haven't told any of the staff or the Ministry, have you? If you had, you would not be here now. They would."

"I snuck out," Lily hastily explained, and technically it was the truth. "They didn't want me to come, so I snuck out of my dormitory and came here..."

"By yourself?"

"Y-yes."

Harris's smile was visible under the edge of his half-faced mask. It was cold and cruel. Then, suddenly, he lifted one hand and struck Lily's face hard. She did not cry out in pain, but it was with difficulty that she managed to control herself. The area where his hand had hit throbbed, but she kept her expression at least somewhat detached.

"You continue to lie to me," the death eater said. "That is most distressing. The Dark Lord will not be pleased."

"Is he coming here?" Lily asked quickly.

"It is I who will do the interrogating," Harris told her. "For it is _I_ who is in possession of both wands. Mine and _yours_." He held up Lily's for proof, twirled it tauntingly between his fingers, and then pocketed it once more. Lily said nothing. An angry retort would do her no good, and a lie would not seem plausible.

The Death Eater straightened up and stepped back. He raised his own wand and pointed it at Lily's heart. "I repeat: who knows about this place, and who knows you have come here?" She said nothing. Harris sighed unremorsefully, then said with great determination and volume: "_Crucio!"_

The pain that Lily had already been experiencing in her back was nothing to what seared through her now. Her bones seemed to shake as if they were about to split into a thousand pieces. The pressure on her skull was indescribable, and her chest felt as if her lungs were collapsing. She gasped for air, but before any success could be reached, the pain ceased. It

As she inhaled and exhaled many times, she found that she was laying on her chest in the dirt, but Harris did not seem to have noticed. "Who knows you are here?" he asked again.

"N-n-n-no one!" gasped Lily, knowing it was not a safe answer, but not caring. She only wanted to avoid ever feeling the Cruciatus Curse again.

"No one? No one at all?"

"No! No one at all!"

_"_You're lying. _Crucio!_"

This time, Lily thought she _must _be dying. She prayed for death. She knew she could not sustain this much longer.

"Who else knows?" shouted Harris, over her own screams. "Who have you told? Who knows you came?" But Lily could not have answered if she wanted to. She could do nothing but scream in reply to his questions. "Who knows you came?" he repeated once again. And then, the pain stopped for a second time. Tears flooded Lily's eyes against her will. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to show them that they could not break her. But they could. She knew that they could. She did not think she could handle many more doses of pain.

Harris repeated his question.

"No one!" gasped Lily. "I don't know! What do you want me to tell you?"

"I want you to tell me who knows where you are! _Crucio_!"

Lily's body convulsed under the third infliction of the curse. '_Don't tell them_,' she thought forcefully. '_Don't. Control. He can't break you. They'll kill James. Don't tell. Don't tell._'

"_Who _else knows?" Harris's voice demanded, but he sounded distant and his words echoed. Lily groaned and rolled over, writhing under the pain of the spell. Then, Harris lifted his wand and again the pain ceased, but this time it was much more gradual. Though he had lifted the curse, the aching partially remained, only slowly wearing away.

"I don't want to kill you," he said coolly to her.

Lily, gasping desperately for oxygen, glared at him. "Then don't."

This was apparently the wrong thing to say. A new wave of agony swept through her under the fourth initiation of the curse, much worse than any of the others.

"Do you know what will happen?" she could barely hear Harris call, over her own cries. "You won't die. You'll be worse. Your pretty face... your young, strong body will be broken. You won't be dead, but your life will be over." He jabbed his wand at the air, pushing the curse harder on her.

Lily did not believe him. She would die. She had to die. Surely she could not stay alive much longer. She knew her limit and thought every second that she must have reached it. She would tell them. She would tell them that Snape knew. She would tell them—she would even tell them that James knew, if only it would stop.

"I'll tell you!" she screamed, and the pain slowly began to dissipate, even more slowly and less noticeably than before.

"Tell me," Harris commanded, lowering his wand.

Lily caught her breath. Her eyes darted about for an escape. The other Death Eater stood a short distance away, but Lily's hands and feet were tied, and she would be in no condition to run, even if she could get free. And anyway, Harris had her wand.

Annoyed with her silence, Harris raised his wand once again. "Tell me," he reiterated threateningly.

"Korcesh knows," Lily said, breathing heavily and feeling heavy tears fall down her face. "Korcesh from the Ministry of Magic... he's the only one who knows."

Harris smiled yet again. He walked closer to her. "You are a liar, girl. You can't deceive me."

"Korcesh—it's Korcesh... he's in the village! I swear it!"

The other Death Eater, Tisket, chuckled. "Give her another taste, Harris," he said, amused.

Much to Lily's surprise, however, Harris slowly shook his head, saying: "No." He paused. "No, I will show our guest what the truth feels like. We have been most impolite, Tisket. We should inform her that we know about her friend from the school..." He leaned very close to Lily's friend. "We have him."

Lily's mind immediately flew to James. '_But no,'_ she thought frantically. '_It could be Snape..._' Neither thought was particularly encouraging. James knew more about what was going on, but Lily would not wish what she was experiencing even on Snape.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the redhead breathed, in what she knew must be an unconvincing manner.

"No? So you don't know of the black haired wizard... about your age... Handsome, strong. They took him at the edge of the forest..."

"No, I don't know what..."

"What did they say his name was, Tisket... Perry? Poker? Pevensie?"

"Potter?" offered Tisket with a smirk.

"Yes, that's it," continued Harris. "Potter. Young Master Potter... it's a good family, the Potters... They'll be devastated when they find out..."

Lily tried to hide her fears as she said, with all the spirit she could muster, "If you already have someone, what do you want me to tell you?"

"I want to know," Harris pressed. "_Who else knows where you are_?"

"And I've told you..."

"You've told me lies. Lies of a little girl, who does not understand the dangerous games she plays."

Lily said nothing. She expected to be hit with another wave of pain, and was again surprised when none came. Harris rose once more.

"Do you want to know what happened to your friend?" he asked, knowing that she wanted it more than anything, though she dared not admit it. "He was caught some time before you. He's been with The Foreigner. _He_ didn't want to tell us anything either, but he did. He gave you up... he told us where you'd be, but he didn't know who you told about it. It didn't matter, though. Now we have you."

"What did you do to him?" spat Lily.

An amused look came into Harris's brown eyes. "Just before you woke, a message came from the Foreigner. Tragic news... seems Potter ran out of uses. He's dead." There was no remorse in his voice or expression as he gave his words a minute or two to sink in.

Lily simply stared at him.

No.

No it could not be. She would not believe it. He was trying to break her, that was all. James couldn't... He _could not _be...

"You're lying."

"Why would I lie?"

"I don't know... any reason... you... he's not dead. You're lying!"

"I am not."

Lily continued to stare. He was right—he had no reason to lie to her about this.

James was dead. Irredeemably lost. Harris did not need to use the Cruciatus Curse on her now, for there was suddenly an aching pain in Lily's chest, worse than any of the death eater's other work. The tears that had already fallen now burned on her face and she stared hatefully into Harris's eyes. He didn't know... he couldn't know what they had done... And in one terrible moment, _Lily_ realized what they had done. James, with all his pride, recklessness, and obstinacy, was completely irreplaceable. He made every situation livelier... more interesting. He was energy... intensity... occasionally insanity in person and there never had been anyone who so perfectly knew every one of her—of Lily's—faults, never failing to point them out, of course. Suddenly, she knew that she had been so used to each day passing with his criticism, bickering, and complaints that no day could ever be entirely the same without them.

He would never call her "Red" again, and he would never sit in the Common Room with Sirius and Remus and Peter, tossing wads of parchment at her, just to see if she would turn around and hex him for it. And he would not be at head meetings, waiting to tell her his latest insane idea, and he would not make her laugh with an incredibly stupid joke, and he would not play Quidditch again, and he would not make her heart beat just a little faster simply by grabbing her wrist or muttering something in her ear.

Because of them.

"Why did you kill him?" Lily breathed to Harris. "You shouldn't... you didn't need t... you don't know... he..."

Harris was unsurprisingly unmoved. "We will kill you too, if we must," he murmured, quietly and coldly. "Who else knows where you are?"

Lily had never hated anyone like she hated the wizard in front of her at that moment. Somehow—and Lily would never know exactly _how_—she managed to get to her feet, despite her bonds. "I'm not telling you anything!" she shouted furiously She tried to rush at him, but stumbled due to the ties around her ankles. Harris laughed. He did not raise his wand at her, but merely reached out an arm and pushed Lily with enough strength that she fell and tripped a yard or two backwards.

As she slid back, however, Lily managed to maneuver her arms around her legs so that her hands were now in front of her. The two Death Eaters continued to laugh at her, for she fell in a heap on the dirt ground. When Harris had composed himself, he finally raised his wand and took a step forward.

"Now, Miss Evans," he said in voice that would once have terrified Lily, but now only incensed her; "Tell me: who knows where you are?"

Lily said nothing.

"I don't want to permanently damage your mind. I don't want to kill you like we did that boy, but I will do what is necessary to find out what I want to know. You will tell me. _Who knows_?"

Still, Lily said nothing.

Harris held his wand a little higher, and began to say "Crucio" once more.

"Wait!" she interrupted, crying out into the ground. She sniffed once, and forced her voice into a softer one, conveying fear, not anger. "I'll tell you," she whispered, tearful, and only barely audible.

Harris crouched down. "Who?"

"It's Snape," Lily coughed into the ground. Harris, smirking victoriously, leaned closer in.

"Speak louder. _Who_?"

"It's Snape," Lily repeated in the same, unclear voice.

Harris leaned closer still. "The _names_, Miss Evans, and where I may find them..."

Lily pushed herself up a little, as if to whisper something to him. He waited intently. Then, before the Death Eater knew what had happened, Lily swung her arms around so that her tied fists hit the side of his head. Hard. Before anyone could react, Lily had grabbed the wand from Harris's hands and kicked him back. Tisket shot a spell towards her, but she managed to duck out of the way in time.

She directed her wand at her ankles and the bonds disappeared. Lily got to her feet very quickly. "Don't move!" she ordered. The wand was pointed at Harris, but Tisket's was aimed at her. "If you shoot so much as a disarming spell at me," Lily called to the latter, "I'll have plenty of time to get out of the way _and_ to kill your friend here."

"Attack her!" ordered Harris. "She couldn't kill me... she doesn't have it in her!"

"Are you willing to gamble with his life?" snapped the redhead to Tisket. "You won't get me, and you'll risk killing him. Is it worth it?"

"Tisket! Stop her!"

"Please, Tisket," added Lily venomously. "_Try._ Give me a reason to kill this bastard."

"Tisket, you have your orders!" shouted Harris.

"But Harris..."

"_Expelliarmus!"_

Tisket's wand flew through the air, and Tisket himself was pushed back by the force of the spell. Harris dived towards Lily, but she dodged him easily. She shot a stunning spell at Tisket, who was hit in the shoulder as he leaped to get his wand.

Lily spun around to face Harris, but was met herself by the tip of a wand. He was pointing her own wand, which had been in his pocket, at her. They stood there in a temporary stalemate, breathing heavily and staring each other down. Harris broke the silence.

"Now, Miss Evans. Shall we talk?"

"No, thanks."

"I would recommend it. You see, you may kill me, though I doubt it, and you may escape with your life, though I also doubt that, but I am a servant of the Dark Lord, and I have friends who will hunt you, kill you, and kill anyone they believe is involved with you. So let's talk."

"Talk away, then."

"I propose we both agree to lower our wands at the same time."

"I have no reason to trust you."

"You have no choice but to do so."

"You seem to forget that I'm armed too."

"True. However I am the more experienced wizard, and I could best you physically as well. Don't deceive yourself, Miss Evans."

"If that's the case," Lily muttered coolly, "and I'm only deceiving myself, then why are _you_ afraid of me?"

"I am not, you may rest assured."

"Then why are you trying to strike a deal?"

Harris said nothing. They stood there for another moment. The silence was broken this time by the howl of a wolf, but neither paid this much attention. Then, Lily slowly began to back away from the Death Eater.

"Where are you going?" he demanded,

"You can hex me," said Lily coolly. "But I'll be able to hex you too and then it's just a matter of who wakes up first. It's another gamble for you, because if _I_ recover first, than I'm getting out of here and telling as many people as possible. Stakes are high, and I think you're going to fold."

"The 'Avada Kedavra' is terribly hard to doge," Harris warned.

"Perhaps, but are you sure you want to kill me? Wouldn't that go against your orders? Maybe Lord Voldemort doesn't want any students murdered. Then the school would close, and that's not part of his plan, is it?"

Lily was backing farther and farther away. She could feel Harris's dilemma, but she knew it would not last much longer. He would decide soon that he had no choice but to attack her. If she was lucky, he would use a normal hex. If she was unlucky, he would use another Unforgivable Curse. What she had to do now was keep him distracted. Keep him talking...

"I'll make you a deal..." she said, speaking very quickly.

"So now you want to start talking?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

"I just want to know one thing, and then I'll go with your offer from before."

"What's that?"

Lily searched her mind quickly for a question that would sound reasonably like a last request. "Who... who modified our memories?"

"That's what you want to know?"

Lily nodded shortly. She was not really paying attention to what he was saying. There was a vague consciousness that he said "The Foreigner did it" but it was of no consequence, as Lily did not care about the answer at all. She was concentrating hard on something she had been taught the year before. Un-vocalized spells.

As Harris spoke, she focused all of her mind on the word "Expelliarmus."

And suddenly, almost as much to Lily's surprise as _his_, the wand flew out of the death eater's hands. Lily did not try to catch it, because it landed some distance away, and she did not dare waver in keeping her wand aimed at Harris. With only part of his face showing, it was still clear that he was shocked. Then, a thin smile spread across his lips—a mirthless smile, as if he was still pretending he maintained some control in the situation.

"Now we'll talk," said Lily coolly.

"Talk away," mimicked the death eater.

"Why did you attack the train? Why didn't Voldemort try to take the school?"

Harris gave her a disgusted look. "You think that you're brave, don't you? You think that because you can say his name, that makes you brave..."

"I think you better start answering questions, because if I just look like a schoolgirl holding a wand to you, you're in for a big surprise. I don't need you alive, and I certainly don't _want_ you alive."

"Anger... you're very angry, Miss Evans. Why is that?"

"It's really not that hard to understand... think back over the last five minutes. What have you possibly done to get me mad? Now _answer the question_."

"It was the boy, wasn't it?" continued Harris ignoring her, as comprehension seemed to dawn on him. "The boy... the boy that they took..."

"_I_ have the wands now, and _I'll _be asking the questions. _Why didn't Voldemort try to take the school?_" She took a step closer and raised her wand a little higher. Harris raised his hands as if to indicate surrender.

"I don't know," he said silkily. "He does not share his plans with many."

"But Voldemort hired Silth?"

Harris nodded slowly.

"Who is The Foreigner?"

This time, the death eater did not respond immediately. He watched Lily for a moment, and she repeated her question. Still, he did not answer.

"Tell me!" she very near shouted, anger surging through her body and her voice.

"No," said Harris. "You may kill me if you wish. I doubt that you are capable of it... I do not believe you could perform an Unforgivable Curse, Miss Evans. But even if you can, and if you do choose to kill me, I will have died in the service of the Dark Lord. Now that you hold the wand, there is a chance of your escape, and I cannot reveal anything to you as long as you have a chance to leave this place alive and with your memories intact. I am _his_ servant, and I would die before I would betray Him."

Lily watched him carefully. "I'm not going to kill you, Sir," she said at length. "You're right. I can't do an Unforgivable Curse. I don't have to kill you, though. I'll let _him_ do that. I'll let your master do it."

She muttered a charm under her breath and ropes sprang around the death eater's wrists and ankles. He toppled over, not able to remain standing with the bonds on his ankles.

"We'll see how grateful your master is with your service when he sees you let one little girl playing dangerous games escape." Then, Lily added a stunning spell, and the death eater passed out. Moving quickly, Lily pocketed her own wand and walked over to the where the two death eaters' wands had fallen, gathering them up. Since she affectively had only one hand as her wrists were still bound, she had to pocket both of the other wands before she could redraw her own.

Once this was done, Lily placed her wand in the palm of her hand, muttering, "Point me." The wand spun around a few times, before finishing, pointing north. Lily looked up in the opposite direction and began to walk that way, when she heard a noise that made her start. It was the sound of dead leaves crunching together, as they would if someone was stepping on them.

Lily took a step back, keeping her wand raised and her eyes peeled.

"Who's there?" she demanded, her voice stronger than she felt.

No one replied, and it was very soon that she realized why. Two eyes reflected the light of the orbs in the clearing, but they were not the eyes of a human. There was a creature coming closer and closer, and Lily moved back a little further. She breathed heavily as the creature stepped into the light.

It was a wolf.

But Lily did not need to think back to all that they had been taught in Dark Arts class to realize that this was not an ordinary wolf. It was a werewolf.

"Stupefy!" she shouted, but the werewolf was already moving quickly towards her; the spell hit the ground where the creature had formerly been standing. Lily did not have time to notice this. The werewolf bounded towards her and she had to slide out of the way. She pointed her wand at the still air born animal and shouted "Levicorpus!" but this jinx missed also.

The werewolf, now on four paws again, turned slowly on Lily, who tried once more to hit it with a stunning spell. For a third time, the werewolf jumped out of the way just in time, leaping towards Lily. His front paw landed on Lily's leg, his claws sinking through her jeans and digging into the skin. Lily screamed in pain, but managed with her other leg to kick the werewolf's snout. This bought her some time, and with difficulty she backed away, but the ties on her wrists were becoming more and more of a hindrance.

As the wolf recovered from his blow, Lily scrambled to her feet. She began to run back towards safety in the thicket, but was pushed to the ground by the heavy force of the creature. Her wand dropped just out of reach, and the werewolf stood, half on top of her, ready to bite at any moment.

She tried to hit the creature, but her shoulders were pinned and therefore her fists could not beat at an effective angle. The werewolf's hot breath beat into her face, and Lily grew still, waiting for him to make his attack.

And then, by some miracle that—no matter how many times it was explained to her later—she would never be able to fully understand, the werewolf was quite suddenly pushed off of her by a streak of white. Lily instinctively rolled over to avoid being hit by the... thing... that had hit the werewolf. She heard the creature's whimper and a loud thudding sound that shook the ground.

Lily rolled over again and grabbed her wand. Looking up, she saw the werewolf, staggering to its feet with its grey eyes staring upward at the large white creature that stood over it. It was a stag, Lily recognized, barely registering the thought. In fact, she was too completely confused to register anything. She got to her feet, wand aimed at the werewolf, but eyes on the magnificent white creature that stared it down.

Breathing heavily, she watched the scene unfold with utter bewilderment.

The werewolf managed to strai**gh**ten up and lashed once with a paw towards the stag, which merely stamped its hoofs impatiently. Then, much to Lily's even greater surprise, the werewolf, not taking its eyes off of the stag, began to slink towards the thicket. When it hit the tree-line, it broke out into a run, disappearing into the darkness.

Lily watched the stag distrustfully. She pointed her wand at it, as if to say, "Explain yourself," though Lily thought, despite her wand, it was the animal that was in control of the situation. The stag must have understood her unvoiced demand anyway, and a moment later, it completely disappeared. It did not run into the forest like the werewolf had, but was merely replaced... replaced by the bleeding, sweating, exhausted figure of James Potter.

And as Lily gazed at him, a million questions flooding her head and a million utterly incommunicable emotions sweeping through her, she only managed to articulate two words, which, by some coincidence, were the only two words that _he_ managed at the exact same moment to speak as well.

"You're alive."

* * *

**Note**: Cliffhanger! By now you have enough information that one could hypothetically know what is what... if you wanted to go back and reread a few early chapters—think Chapter 6. 23 not done yet (so sue me) because, as I mentioned, I am an unmotivated clot of cheese. Reviews tend to make me a **motivated** clot of cheese. I'm still working on the cheese part. 

Much, much love to the wonderful, anonymous reviewers: **Karen **(yay! Predictions! Lily punching Redival? I think it should be in the DVD special edition release because it would be _so_ gratifying :-P. I'll have to work on that one. Love and cookies!) and **lilyismename** (I'm so glad you liked the story! Thank you so much for your wonderful review, and help yourself to virtual cookies). Signed in reviewers should already have their responses...

So, I hope you'll be sweet and review; it is _so_ helpful to me. I especially want to know how this chapter came off. There were some that I was afraid seemed kind of bleck. Gah! So please review! What happened to James? Why's he bleeding? How'd he get there? Next chapter!

Cheers,  
_Jewels_


	23. The Lord and the Outlaw

_Note:_ Wow—okay. Big shout out to all the **scrumptrilescent** readers and reviewers of Chapter 22! I love you guys to _no_ end! The reviews DEFINITELY got me motivated :-P

_History_: There are about 8551 pages worth of English HP fanfics on this site. None of the authors filling them are—in all likelihood—JKR. Neither am I. I own zilch.

_Recap:_ Silth kills Praedam, almost killing James, but Gilbert Korcesh (Ministry guy) rescues him, and he goes to the castle to talk to McGonagall (Dumbledore is away from the school). He meets up with Lily, tells her everything, and she goes to retrieve her memories using Snape's pensieve. James doesn't find McGonagall and he is forced to go to the Common Room. Lily comes to him later with directions to _The Clearing_ in the forest, believing Silth is scheduled to meet "The Foreigner" there. The two sneak out. In the forest, James's memories begin to return in the same painful way they returned to Lily months before. But worse. Lily must go on alone, and James is left behind.

**Six** days. I had 2 pages of this written six days ago, but due to the waves of feedback, I was super inspired. Thank you SO much!

_**THIS CHAPTER RUNS SIMULTANEOUS TO CHAPTER 22.**_

**Chapter 23- "The Lord and the Outlaw"**_  
"You want results, but you never want to get your hands dirty. I'd start rolling up your sleeves. I'm gonna need a hacksaw." –_Jack Bauer; Day 2, "24"  
(I had this chapter in my head before I became obsessive of "24", but, seeing as there is a scene or two that scream "Jack Bauer", I thought he deserved the quote :-P)

_"Here."_

_"You're giving me your wand?"_

_"No. I picked it up off a death eater when I knocked him out... What is it?"_

_"I... it's just... the wand won't work as well, since I'm not the owner..."_

_"It's just a simple healing charm... the cuts aren't too deep... hopefully. Okay, screw the last comment. Knox! Move your hand there... Sana!"_

It was with great difficulty that James did not shout out in pain. His head felt as though it was splitting open. Images and words and scenarios played through his head top speed—even things that James already remembered. Somehow, he managed to push himself up so that he was sitting on thick roots of a tree, which he leaned against.

He sat there, and the minutes slipped by. At first, the throbbing pain in his head was so excruciatingly acute that he could barely breathe, and it required all of the self-control he possessed to keep himself from making noise about it; there was no chance of his going anywhere. However, as time passed, the pain slowly eased away. Eventually, he could stand up and breathe more normally. Admittedly, his head still felt as if someone had taken an axe to it... but less so.

Still leaning on the tree, James pushed himself up and looked about. It was dark but not entirely so. The full moon lit the area and James felt a jolt of guilt as he noticed it. Remus would be in the Shrieking Shack by now—alone without the other Marauders. However, he did not have much time to be guilty about that, as Lily was currently braving Merlin knew what by _herself_. She had disappeared a little over a quarter of an hour ago and James would have to move quickly if he wanted to make up the distance.

He looked about and located the directions she had left behind on the ground, where he had dropped them some time ago. Picking up the parchment, James read it through briefly, and then looked at his surroundings, comparing them with what Lily had written. He noticed one of the landmarks—a few mossy boulders—that she had pointed out, and read the bit of instructions regarding where to go next.

Unfortunately, it was slow business, following the directions. He did not trust his own memory enough yet to even partially rely on _it_, so he had to pay strict attention to the written directions as well as the forest around him. In addition, the aching in his head seemed to have spread through his entire body, and his pace was one at which he had no hope of catching up with the Head Girl. Still, he could not exactly turn back and leave Lily to her own devices. He felt guilty enough regarding her.

Now that he thought on it, he should not have let her go on alone at all. Silth would not show up for his meeting in the clearing, and when that occurred, James could only guess as to what would happen next. He should not have gotten Lily involved at all. She was a perfectly capable witch in just about every respect of course—above average in most—but it was not safe for her to be going. Death Eaters were much more qualified witches and wizards, who would not hesitate in using Unforgivable Curses on her. It was mistake, James knew.

The crackling of leaves under foot caused him to start. The foreign sound came from somewhere in the distance, and the Head Boy moved quickly behind a tree. He peered around the edge, wand ready if he needed it, looking around for the source. At first, he saw nothing, but at length he noticed a dark figure moving some space away. He raised his wand, but the figure did not seem to know he was there. The stranger moved quickly, and James did not attack. Instead, he (very quietly) moved out from behind the tree and crept along in the same direction as the newcomer.

However, James could not move as quickly as the figure that he shadowed. He put all his energy into keeping up and ignoring the aching in his legs. He focused his attention on anything but the pain. Still, it did not seem to be enough. After a few minutes, his legs gave out under him, and James fell to the dirt.

"Shit."

He pushed himself up a little, then remained in an uncomfortable sitting position for about a minute, trying to decide what to do next. His choices were decidedly limited. His legs were not functioning well, his head was worse, and no mode of transportation was jumping out at him. That more or less further limited his choices to... sitting there.

"Shit," he swore again and arguably with good reason.

For all of a minute and a half, James stayed where he was. He was in slightly less pain than he had been when he was running. At length however, the uselessness of himself became more than he could stand, and he grabbed hold with both hands to a bit of bark on the nearby tree trunk. Holding it in a position that he hoped would not cause the bark to peel off, James pulled himself upward with as minimal pressure on his legs as possible. Slowly, he shifted more and more of his weight to his legs again, and though pain shot up and down them, he did not collapse.

Once James was confident that he could stand on his own, he leaned against the trunk of the tree and ran a hand through his hair thoughtfully. Realistically, he could not catch up with Lily, and therefore he could not help her directly. There was still another way for him to help her, however. If he went to the village directly, he might be able to find Korcesh and explain what was going on. They _couldn't_ ignore him then.

James surveyed his surroundings quickly. Though the tree line was not visible from where he was, he was mostly certain of how to get out. He was not terribly far in, after all. Sometime in the course of his chase of the dark figure, James had climbed higher ground and the terrain was not very straightforward. He glanced about and saw that, to his right, the ground sloped more smoothly downward. He began to stagger in that direction.

When the ground was just dirt beneath his feet, the going was much easier. James managed to walk a little more normally down the incline. Before he reached the bottom, however, he took a brief look at the view from higher ground. In the moonlight, something caught his eye between trees. Something that looked like a path.

James ignored the pain in his legs as he walked quickly down the slope and hurried to the place he had seen. It was, in fact, a path—a plain, dirt path, but a path nonetheless. He had never seen it before, and that was rare, as James was rather acquainted with the forest. Even Hagrid—and no one knew the forest like Hagrid—had always said that there were only two paths in the forest, and this was neither of those. Perhaps it was new...

_"Hold still... it will _not_ hurt…_"

An agonizing pain shot through James's head at the same moment the foreign words did. He leaned on a tree for support.

_"Make a sound and you will regret it..."_

He knew the voice. It was a man speaking—low and raspy, but somehow sleek. It was familiar but how James could not remember. He stood still for a moment, trying to remember where he had heard that voice before. His thoughts were interrupted by a sound that was _not_ another memory. Footsteps. He whipped around the tree, so that he was not visible from the path.

Two dark figures were walking up the trail towards James, and, straining his ears as they approached, he could hear them speaking in whispers. The trees were thick in this area, and the lack of moonlight made it difficult to see, so it was not until they were very close that James could see anything clearly about them.

At length, it became evident that neither figure was dressed in the robes of a death eater. They were, however, dressed in black, hooded robes that were long and sweeping. One of the figures seemed to be a woman, judging by her gait, though James could not yet hear what was being said. They drew closer, and he endeavored to hear the exchange. The woman's voice was audible first.

"Hurry along, Tisket."

"What's the rush?" a frosty, male voice bit back.

"We were instructed to be quick... to reach the clearing before the boy does..."

"How do we even know that's where he's going? He could be..."

"He escaped the castle—where else would he be going? Now _hurry along_."

"Alright, I..." He stopped speaking suddenly and held out a hand to halt the woman. They stood very still, than the man whispered something to the woman that James could not hear. It did not matter, for he could guess what they were saying. He had not realized up until now how loudly he had been breathing. Immediately, he clasped a hand over his mouth.

James did not dare to look around the edge of the tree, but he could hear their footsteps start up again. They did not speak, but slowly the footsteps faded as they presumably continued down the path. James chanced a glimpse over his shoulder and noted the retreating figures. That was incentive enough to get out of there.

He crept along the other side of the tree and checked once again to see that he was alone. He watched the road carefully, but the two death eaters had vanished into the darkness, and James took the opportunity to slip out from behind his shelter, onto the road. He did not pursue them, but rather hurried down the road in the opposite direction of that which the death eaters had taken. There was a vague plan in his head that was slowly taking more clear shape—he would get to the village and warn _someone_. He would give that someone the directions to the clearing and, assuming that the clearing still possessed the properties it had months ago, they would be able to apparate there to ward off the death eaters and help Lily. If James could not find anyone he trusted, he would go himself.

The Head Boy's pace quickened, so that he was practically running, despite the pain that consequently surged through him. He was about sixty percent sure that this path led back to the end of the forest, though he had never seen it before. Where else could it possibly go?

"_Hold still...it will _not_ hurt..."_

The words echoed once more in his head, and James winced in pain. He slowed down, but only slightly.

_"Hello, gentlemen... I merely wanted to make sure everything was alright..._"

_That_ voice was familiar. James knew it from somewhere. But where? He had heard those words spoken, and that low, sleek voice was so familiar, but...

Suddenly, James's hand burned with a new, unknown pain. He felt as if he had stuck it in the flames of the fire in Gryffindor tower, and he slowly pulled to a halt, looking down at his right hand. The skin on his palm was brown and smoldering as if he _had_ placed it in a fire. It was a moment before James realized why. A jet of red light flew past his ear, missing it by centimeters. He turned quickly and saw dark movements coming from the direction that the death eaters had taken.

In a split second, James forgot all about his hand—or at least tried to—and began to sprint back into the forest. Hexes and curses started raining down on the path, but he managed to narrowly avoid being hit. Once in the safety of the trees, he decelerated a very little bit, hoping to make less noise. The woman's voice from earlier called out "This way!" somewhere in the distance, however, and James did not dare stop moving.

He came to a where the trees were less densely populated, and got to the ground, though the sounds of his pursuers had not vanished yet. An occasional hex flew by, but James did not think that they knew exactly where he was just yet. He found that he was near the raised ground that he had used to spot the trail earlier, and began to crawl upward, where the thick growth of trees would more effectively hide him. Feeling rather like a lizard (and somewhat resembling one as well), he reached to top and waited. It was silent once more.

A minute or two passed, and still James could catch neither sight nor sound of the death eaters. Slowly he pushed himself upward—splitting pain traveling up and down his arms—and, with the intention of hiding behind the nearby evergreen, got to his feet. He had no time, however, to find cover for suddenly, from somewhere behind him, the light of a hex hit his side and James stumbled forward.

He fell off the embankment to the ground below. His head surged with the worst pain yet, and then he grew numb. Everything flashed dark, light, and blurry in his mind's eye, and as all recognition faded, he passed out.

* * *

_"What are you doing?"_

_"What's necessary."_

_"You... you're one of them."_

_"Goodnight, James. I assure you, you will not remember any of this."_

James did not dare open his eyes. The voices in his head—one of which was his own, the other being the sleek, familiar one—eased away into to silence. His head did not hurt anymore, but he felt numb all over. He could feel something hard beneath him. He was laying down on something hard... something that felt like the wooden floor of a room. Whether it was chilly or warm, James could not tell, but he did (barely) notice that something was poking him in the back... his own fists. His wrists were tied behind his back.

He tried to move his legs... he could not actually tell if he was. He would have to open his eyes, but he did not want to do so just yet.

"Marie," said an alien male voice. "What do we do if he wakes up?"

"Wait for instructions of course," said the woman's voice that James had heard on the path earlier. "The Master was very explicit about it, Short. I don't understand why you should be in any doubt."

"But..."

"Are you questioning our orders?"

"No, but I..."

"Good," interrupted the woman, Marie. "Because if you _were_ to question them, I would have no hesitation in telling him about it. Now where the devil is Grisham?"

"I don't know," the male voice replied, sounding distinctly resentful. "I haven't seen him since Harris sent him to open up this place."

"Never mind that—look! He's waking!"

The witch must have noticed James stir, and he heard footsteps approaching him. With no choice left now, James opened his eyes.

The world was fuzzy around him; he did not have his glasses.

"Sit up, boy," said the wizard, who had been addressed as "Short." James pushed himself up as best he could. He found that there was a wall behind him, which he leaned against, though still sitting. Someone—probably the woman—stood near him. She bent over and picked something up, handing it towards him.

"Your glasses... put them on."

James complied.

The woman was looking down at him, her face partially hidden by a hood, but James could still see the mask of a death eater. He took in the scene.

In addition to "Marie" and "Short" (who stood a short distance away), there were three other cloaked figures, probably male, standing across the shabby room. As for the room itself, it was dimly lit, and musty. There was a boarded up window on the wall to James's right, and a door in the wall directly opposite him. There was also a bed, which was partially obscured by Marie's slim figure, but James saw that it was torn up and mean. There were some planks of wood littering a corner and threatening scratch marks along a few of the walls.

James's breath caught.

He knew this place—he had been here a thousand times.

It was the Shrieking Shack, and _tonight_ was a full moon.

"We have to get out of here," he said quickly, finding his voice.

The wizard laughed dully. "The boy speaks."

"I'm serious," James pressed frantically. "It's not safe here!"

"No?" scoffed Short.

"_No_."

"I assure you," said the witch, Marie, in a faintly less mocking tone, "it is entirely safe. The Foreigner himself chose it. Now, how is your vision?"

"My... _what_?"

"Your vision," she repeated. "Can you see clearly?"

James nodded slowly.

"And how do you feel?" Her voice was not sympathetic or worried, but businesslike. "Aching? In pain?"

"Numb."

"Good." She spoke coldly now. "Your head was in rather bad shape, but I've fixed it."

"I... what?"

"Not the brightest, is he?" offered one of the death eaters who had, up to that point, remained silent.

"No," agreed Short. "If he had been _bright_ he wouldn't have come at all."

Marie ignored them and continued on her own line of conversation. "You were injured. I fixed you up, because we may have use for you, but I hope you will not become complacent. You may be useful, but you will not be necessary."

"I'm shaking in my ropes," James snapped.

"Tsk, tsk," guffawed one of the other death eaters. "Such a temper." The others chuckled as if this had been the most delightfully humorous thing they had heard all evening, and James rolled his eyes.

"Glad I could be amusing to you."

Before anything else could be said, yet another death eater—this one clothed in the usual robes of his kind—entered the room through the door across from James. "He's coming," the newcomer said simply, and everyone went quiet. Footsteps echoed on the wood floors in the outer corridor, more than one set, by the sound of it. Moments later, two cloaked figures entered. One immediately departed to the side of the room with the death eater her had hailed his coming and the three more distant death eaters, where they began to converse in indistinguishable whispers. The second walked over and stood next to Marie, watching James carefully behind his hood and mask.

When no one addressed him, James grew impatient.

"What do you want with me?" he asked in as level a tone he could muster.

The death eaters all seemed to turn to look at him. The man next to Marie scoffed quietly. "You, boy, are in no position to ask questions. You have his wand, of course?" He added this part to Marie.

"No, Harris. I'm a complete fool and forgot to take his wand! _Of course_ I have it." She partially drew it as an indication.

"Silence, both of you," snapped the other newly arrived death eater who had gone to the corner. He then turned and continued with his own, hushed conversation. They remained in this manner for about two minutes, before the wizard who had ordered silence turned to Marie and the death eater next to her. "Harris," he said, speaking to the wizard. "Take Tisket and Short with you to find Denalty and Boromeo. We have what we were looking for. Go, now."

Harris gave a short nod, and walked hastily out of the room, flanked by two of the other death eaters. The death eater that seemed to be in charge now took Harris's place next to Marie, though only momentarily. They whispered something to each other that James could not quite catch, and than the death eater began to pace. His shining black shoes clicked on the old wood.

"This place isn't safe," James repeated.

The death eater did not cease his pacing. "And why is that?"

James hesitated; he was not willing to tell them about Remus... it had become such a habit of keeping it a secret that it was with difficulty that he would part with the information. The death eater construed the moment of silence to believe that James did not have an answer, and he made an amused sound.

"As I expected."

And it was those three words that reminded James of something else. It was that voice. It was the voice that had pounded in his head only minutes before—the low, raspy but silky voice. He still could not match a face, but he felt that that would come any moment.

"You," he murmured. "I know you."

The death eater raised his head, appearing intrigued. "Of course you do."

"You modified my memories... you came into our dormitory that night... you..."

"My dear boy," said the other, halting in a particularly menacing position over James. "Don't you recognize me?"

Before James could recognize anything, the death eater was slowly pulling off his hood. James had already noticed that he was not wearing a mask, but his face had been hidden by the simple black hood, unlike that of the normal death eater. The hood fell back and James was met by gray eyes that he undoubtedly knew. Except, when he had encountered these eyes in the past, they had been conveying superiority or panic or distraction—now, they were filled with cold, hateful amusement.

They were the eyes of Gilbert Korcesh.

"You... you're a death eater... " James murmured, because he still could not quite understand how that could be right. And yet, the voice that had spoken to him from one of the many butchered memories matched Korcesh's, he now saw. It was the same voice that had told him to "Hold still..." that it "will not hurt…" eight months before and to "hurry up to the castle" earlier that evening. Korcesh smirked slightly.

"I have heard you speak those words before," he said pointedly.

"When you modified my memories—in September..."

"So you remember? I'm honored."

"I remembered your voice... I couldn't place it."

"Yes, it was I. And I must say, I did rather a better job at it than I expected. You have not remembered much, up until tonight, I trust."

James was not in the mood to flatter a death eater, so he ignored the statement. "You didn't do so well on Lily—she started to remember weeks ago."

"Oh, but I did not modify Miss Evans's memories at all, Mr. Potter. I knew how difficult it can be for one of the male sex to enter into her dormitory, so I modified your own and Mr. Pettigrew's memories of the trek, and... influenced one of the young ladies of Miss Evans's year to do the same to her."

"No student could perform that kind of magic on their own," James snapped. "You must have used the Imperius."

Korcesh began to pace again. "You're quite right. A dark haired girl who appeared particularly despondent as she wandered up to her dormitory unaccompanied told me—when asked, of course—her house and year, and they, fortunately, corresponded with your Miss Evans's."

"Who was the girl you made do that?"

"You are in no position to interrogate."

"What difference could your telling me possibly make?"

Korcesh appeared thoughtful for a moment, and then, smiling slightly, nodded his head. "Of course. I only want to accommodate a guest. However, I cannot recall the girl's name... she had short dark hair, and that is all I remember concerning her, excepting that she did a rather poor job on Miss Evans's memories."

By the sound of it, he was describing Rachel Brossle, but James saw no reason to point this out. In fact, if he did not know Rachel's name, she was probably the safer for it. Korcesh did not seem interested in the girl at all, however. Instead, he ceased his pacing and found a position, several feet away that suited him more. He looked carefully at James. The Head Boy was still trying to work things out in his head. If Korcesh was a death eater... if he had been working for Voldemort all along...

"You're The Foreigner, aren't you? You're the one Silth was supposed to meet with—the one who hired him. What is it... a codename?"

"I have spent many years in this country," Korcesh said with a small nod. "This is where I first met the Master... but I was not born here. It _is_ a sort of codename, one might say."

"You were on the train," James murmured, more to himself than to Korcesh. "That's why there was the attack... to get you in at Hogwarts... so you would be assigned to stay there."

"Indeed."

"But if Voldemort..." Everyone in the room noticeably flinched... "already had Silth in the school, than why did you have to come too?"

"Silth was a fool," scoffed Korcesh, once more beginning to pace. "He needed supervision."

"Is that why you were checking up on him that one day, right after Christmas? When you caught me in his office?"

"I thought he might have been attempting to cheat us. I searched his office to guarantee he had not stolen anything that he had not reported."

James was reminded of all that had transpired in Hogsmeade that evening. "Why did you stop Silth from killing me on the street tonight? You knew I had overheard a lot—I told you as much. Why did you save me?"

"As I said, Silth was a fool. He did not flee as any man in his right senses would have. He came back to kill you in a crowded street. A few had already seen him with his wand at your neck... to maintain my own cover, it was necessary to stop him."

"And then you sent me back to the castle, but made sure the Aurors would keep me from talking to anyone..."

"I merely told them that I did not want you to start a panic."

"What did you do with Silth?"

"Questioned him, of course. That was my duty, as a wizard of the Ministry of Magic." He spoke the last words in a distinctly derisive manner.

"But the Aurors," James pressed, confused. "They'll realize he's gone and that you let him escape."

Korcesh gave in to something that seemed to have been tempting him for some time, as he laughed scornfully. "Dear, Mr. Potter, you cannot possibly imagine that..." He broke off, then started over: "Silth allowed himself to be discovered by _you_. That was an error that I could not possibly allow to pass."

James gaped. "You... you killed him, didn't you?"

Smiling in a self-satisfied way, Korcesh nodded. "Yes. Silth is dead, and with no great loss to the Dark Lord. He was not a Death Eater... he was simply hired to complete a mission, and he failed."

"He killed Praedam, and you killed him."

"I am pleased to see that the irony did not escape you. But you must understand that I _had_ to kill him. He tried to escape... hexed me, took the two guards by the door out... tasted fresh air, where Alastar and Keira could see him trying to make his escape, and then... it was a tragic accident, but I managed to catch him just then. I only _meant_ to hit him with a stunning spell. Something must have gone wrong..."

"Mmmm, I _bet_ he tried to escape... and you gave him the wand to do it, didn't you?"

Korcesh merely smiled more broadly. He said nothing, so James continued.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you a death eater? You can't honestly be stupid enough to believe what Voldemort says..." Everyone else in the room—Korcesh excepted—was visibly shaken by this, and James did not need to see their faces to know it.

"You're a boy, Potter," Korcesh murmured, still with a smirk. "You cannot possibly imagine what the world is really like. You haven't lived in it long enough."

"Dumbledore is as old as they come and he doesn't see the need for murder."

"Are you trying to convince me?" scoffed the death eater. "You think you can? Dozens have tried it... I already know the truth, though. You have no idea what the Dark Lord can offer..." Then, he turned to Marie and addressed her. "Where's Grisham?"

"He's gone, Sir. Harris ordered him to open up this place when you ordered him to... we don't know where he went then... he may have gone with Denalty and Boromeo."

"I told him to wait for us here."

"Grisham's an idiot," scoffed Marie. "When Denalty and Boromeo showed up, he probably was too impatient to wait."

"Yes. Report him later, Marie."

"Yes, sir."

Korcesh then turned to James again. "You have asked your questions," he said smoothly. "I have answered sufficiently, I hope. And now it is your turn."

"I can't imagine I'd have anything interesting for you," James retorted.

"You are too bold. I do not wish hurt you, but I will if I must."

"What do you want, then?"

"It is very simple. What I want to know is who else knows where you are?"

"That's it?"

"That is it."

James paused for a moment. Obviously he could not tell them about Lily... she was in enough danger as it was. Gathering all his courage (and feeling very stupid for it), he said: "Am I right in guessing that the only reason I'm alive right now is the fact that you don't know the answer to that question?"

Korcesh's smirk faded. "Russia!" he said loudly, and at first, James had not the faintest idea what he was talking about. He himself was about to cry out "China!" and he noticed that one of the death eaters who had remained ominously in the corner, stepped forward. He was, James now saw, unusually tall and thickset.

"Sir?" the death eater addressed as Russia said, in a deep voice that did not bode well. Korcesh ignored him, and spoke to James again.

"It seems," he said sleekly, "that with Silth dead, our access to the school's Veritaserum is limited. This, Mr. Potter, is Russia." He indicated to the stocky death eater.

"Nice to meet you," James threw in audaciously. "I'm James... James Potter."

"At least," continued Korcesh, as if he had not heard, "that is what he is called. He's never told me his real name... probably because he's wanted throughout half of Europe. When truth serum or Occlumency is unattainable or unsuccessful, Russia is quite affective. Now I repeat: who else knows that you are here?"

James said nothing.

"Fisk," Korcesh said with a small sigh, and one of the other ominous—though less so than Russia—death eaters from the corner stepped forward. "Stand him up and undo the ties on his ankles." Fisk stalked over and grabbed James's shoulders, pulling him upward. He drew a wand and pointed it at James's ankles, and the ropes unraveled. The numbness in his body was fading now. "Marie," Korcesh continued, and Marie looked attentively at him. "There was something wrong with him when he was brought here..."

"Little more than a headache," she said indifferently. "I've repaired him."

"Anything else?"

"The usual anti-apparition spells, of course."

"He will feel this, though?"

"The numbness should be wearing off as we speak."

"Good." Korcesh turned to James once again. "Marie is very clever at patching people up, Potter. We can bring you a breath away from your own mortality, and she will bring you back. Then Russia will do his work, and Marie will fix you, and it will _not_ stop until you tell me exactly what I want to know. And then, if Russia gets tired, we have less original, but equally effective ways." He fingered the wand on his belt intentionally, but James kept his face expressionless. "One last time now. Who else knows?"

James was silent.

Korcesh gave a brief nod to Russia, who stepped forward. He had taken down his hood and rolled the sleeves of his robes up. James waited for the blow. It came, harder and sharper than he expected, and he tasted blood. Russia waited for a moment, and Korcesh looked at James expectantly. James spit so that he could speak more clearly.

"Well this looks like a fair fight to me."

* * *

Russia had retreated to a corner and was rubbing his fists in discomfort. Fisk and the other death eater had joined him, but Marie and Korcesh were still standing over James. Korcesh's wand was still drawn from the Cruciatus Curse he had just finished applying, as was Marie's, for a purpose still unknown. James did not notice much of this at all. He was laying on the floor, a heap of blood, bruises, and robes, and the pain that surged through him now burned fresh every few seconds. 

"Who else knows where you are, Potter?" Korcesh asked, sounding bored with the question. It was unsurprising, as he had been repeating it for the last twenty minutes. James had neither the energy nor motivation to answer. "Sit him up, Marie."

Marie bent down and pulled James so that he was in a sitting position, though he was largely—almost entirely—relying on the wall behind him for support. "Shall I heal him?" she asked.

"Clear some of the blood away and fix his eyes so that he is able to see." James did not exactly think now was the time to point out that without the specs that were currently on the ground next to him—almost completely demolished—he would not be able to see properly anyway.

Marie swished her wand a few times, and a cloth appeared. She dabbed his face to clear some of the blood. This did not help any of the pain go away, but rather had the opposite affect. Still, the cloth was cool, and that, if nothing else, was helpful.

"Fisk," she ordered, glancing over her shoulder at the death eater. "My bag."

One of the death eaters looked about, and, locating a black leather bag next to the wall, picked it up and carried it to Marie. She rummaged for a bit, before locating a small bottle of something orange and pasty, which she applied to the steadily growing puffy area around both of James's eyes. He could feel the bruises begin to dissipate, but the aching in the rest of his body was too immense for him to really care in the slightest. He licked his parched lips and tasted blood once again.

"Are you dizzy?" Marie asked impassively,

James merely shrugged. She sighed and, rolling her eyes, rummaged in her bag once again, before withdrawing a vial. There was a clear liquid inside, but it was not the consistency of Veritaserum, which was James's immediate guess. Rather, the contents were thicker, almost gel-like. Marie pulled the stopper out, and instructed James to put his head back. He complied, if for nothing else, out of curiosity.

"Whatever you do, do _not_ blink."

James fit in his last blink. Marie was holding the vial over his face, and a moment later, the clear gel seeped into his eyes. He struggled not to blink, but the gel dissolved with surprising rapidity. James assumed it was safe to do so and lowered his head, leaning it against the wall behind him.

"Can you see now?" she asked quickly.

"No."

"But..."

"The eyeglasses, honey," he murmured, hardly in the mood to argue.

Marie recollected herself and searched about for the object, but Korcesh interrupted her search. "No, not yet," he said coolly. "It would be a waste of time. He has not told us what we want to know yet." Marie nodded and picked up the glasses, setting them in her bag. She stepped away from James as if to say that her work was done and that Russia and Korcesh could start once more on theirs. Korcesh pointed his wand at the Head Boy.

"How do you feel, James?"

"Oh, just peachy," James groaned.

"Lovely. Who else knows where you are?" A brief silence, then—"_Cru..._"

But Korcesh was cut off by a series of faint _crack_ sounds from the outer corridor. He looked hastily over his shoulder, wand ready for an attack, but when the door opened, it was a cloaked figure that entered. James could not distinguish which death eater this was, and apparently, neither could Korcesh, for he asked hastily: "Who's there?"

"Harris, sir," said the newcomer. "I have news."

He walked over and muttered something to Korcesh that no one else in the room could hear. They conversed quietly for a moment and then, with a final nod, Korcesh turned again to James. When he spoke, however, he seemed to be addressing Harris. There was a smile on his face—one that the Head Boy did not trust.

"Well then by all means," he mocked, "bring her in."

James's heart skipped a beat, and he momentarily forgot all the bruises and cuts and aches in him. Harris left, returning a moment later with four other death eaters. The other four seemed to be carrying something, though what James could not quite make out yet.

"Marie," ordered Korcesh, with a quick nod towards James. She, at least, seemed to understand the command. She took something from her bag and tapped it once with her wand. Then, she handed to James what seemed to be his spectacles. James understood what was happening—whatever the death eaters had (and he had a terrible idea), Korcesh wanted him to see it. He put on the eyeglasses and waited.

"Well then," Korcesh continued, this time to the newly arrived death eaters; "Set her down."

They complied with a mixture of carelessness and gentility. In any case, onto the floor fell the unconscious figure of Lily Evans. She was not bound or tied, James noticed, and she did not look as if she had been harmed. At least, she was not bleeding or bruised as far as he could tell.

"Are you certain she won't wake?" Marie asked hastily.

"We stunned her originally," one of the death eaters replied, "but now she's under a sleeping spell. She won't wake for a couple of hours yet, unless we bring her about on purpose."

"Good." Korcesh walked over to where Lily lay and crouched down next to her. A few locks of ginger hair partially obscured her pale face, and he reached out to push them behind her ear. Not stopping there, he traced her jaw line with one finger, and though the unconscious Lily did not flinch, James did. There was a sudden, inexplicable pang in his chest. "Our distinguished Head Girl, if I am not very much mistaken," Korcesh murmured. "_Lily_, I believe. Lily... Lily Evans. We met on the train, didn't we? A pretty girl, would you say, Harris?"

"Very pretty."

"What about you, James?"

James ignored the question. "She doesn't know anything. Leave her out of this."

Korcesh straightened up. "Where did you find her, Harris?"

"Just outside the clearing."

"Alone?"

"We thought at first there was someone traveling with her, but I don't think that was the case anymore. When we stunned her, she was alone."

Korcesh merely nodded. Then, he turned to James, saying: "Now what would Lily be doing near the clearing, if she did not know anything?"

"I told her to go there," James replied croakily. His abdomen was hurting something terrible, but he did his best to suppress any sign of this. "She doesn't know who I've told, or anything."

"Why did you let her go on alone?"

"I was incapacitated," he said, hating himself for it. "The memories were coming back."

"Yes, I suppose that would happen," mused Korcesh. Then his tone changed to a more businesslike one. "Well then. We will soon see whether you are telling the truth or not. Harris, Tisket—take her back. _Convince_ her to tell you the truth by... whatever means necessary. I am certain you will find a method of your own."

"If you _touch_..." began James, only to be interrupted.

"You will do _what_ exactly, Mr. Potter?" Korcesh snapped venomously. "You are tied up and you do not have a wand. If you wish to help Miss Evans, tell me _who else knows where you are_."

James was caught in indecision for a moment. He looked at Lily, laying there so completely defenseless, and was sure for half a second that he could not let them do anything to her. But if they found out that no one knew, they would kill the both of them and escape. No one would no that Korcesh was a death eater and he would go on working at the Ministry unhindered. If only he could buy himself (and Lily) more time...

"Time is up," Korcesh barked. He turned to Harris and Tisket as if to give the signal that they were clear to go.

"Wait!" James interrupted. "Hagrid... Hagrid the gamekeeper... he found us going out to the forest... he was the only other person who knew."

"And he let you go anyway?"

"We convinced him." It was a lie, and it was a lie that James knew might endanger the gamekeeper, but if there was on person that the Head Boy thought Korcesh would not have tabs on who would be able to protect himself, it was Hagrid.

Korcesh nodded. "It is plausible." He walked over to either Harris or Tisket (James did not know which was which) and whispered something in the death eater's ear. Then, he added more audibly. "Well then... carry on."

With nods, the two picked up Lily's limp body and, a moment later, disappeared with a second cracking sound.

"_What?_" shouted James, though it made his lungs feel very much as if they were imploding. "You said..."

"I have no way of knowing whether or not you are telling the truth, James," Korcesh said simply. "If Lily gives the same story, then..."

"You son-of-a-bitch, you said you would..."

"Let's not quibble over words, dear boy. Russia!" Russia stepped forward once more. "I must go certify Mr. Potter's story with the gamekeeper. We do not want him to escape." Russia nodded and walked over to James. He drew back his hand, and James readied himself for another blow. It came, even harder than before and on the side of the head. Once again, the room faded.

* * *

James did not know exactly how long he was unconscious this time, but he woke to Marie's voice. She sounded irritable. 

"Well you needn't have hit him so hard," she was snapping, presumably to Russia. "He could have undergone serious injury, and then he would be no use to anyone."

"But you can fix him up?" This was a male's voice.

"Yes—no thanks to Russia. Look, he's coming around now." James opened his eyes slowly and was immediately met by his glasses, which Marie was handing to him. "Put them on, then." He complied, groaning.

"Couldn't you have just put me to sleep with a spell?"

"Shut up," snapped the male voice that spoke earlier. James vaguely registered that it was the death eater called Fisk speaking. He sighed and tried to make himself a little more comfortable. His arms were aching something terrible.

Korcesh had left the room, but he was the only one of the number missing, with the exception of Harris and Tisket. They were still gone, and it was a moment before James remembered where they had been ordered.

"Where's Lily?" he asked at once.

"I told you to shut up," snapped Fisk.

"_You_ shut up," Marie cut off. "Let him ask his questions. At least then I can tell he's focused."

"Where is she?" James repeated. Predictably, no one answered. He made an exasperated sound, and then he—as well as the seven death eaters—remained silent. They sat there (or stood, in the case of some), for some time. James wished someone would say something—that the death eaters would start a conversation about _anything_. In the dark silence, he had no distraction from the pain that ran through him. It had subsided ever so slightly, probably due to Marie's attentions, and he supposed if he tried, he could have walked decently enough, but he would have given anything for proper, natural sleep.

With effort, James forced himself to think of something that was not his own pain (or Lily, which was an even more agonizing subject that kept popping into his head). Instead, he occupied himself with worrying about Remus. He should have been here... at the Shrieking Shack. Remus's monthly transformations were not widely known of—even the Ministry—so it made sense that Korcesh was not aware that a werewolf usually resided here during the full moon. That would explain why he had chosen this as a hideout in the first place, since most of the Villagers believed it to be haunted and avoided it. Unless he had needed to meet here on the full moon, he would have no way of finding out. None of this, however, explained _why_ Remus was missing on this particular night.

Sirius had told him in the Common Room that he did not plan on going out tonight at all, and Peter would not dare without the others. It was impossible for Remus—in his werewolf form—to escape The Shack by himself. The house had been designed with the very purpose of keeping him inside. It _was_ impossible...

Wasn't it?

Footsteps sounded in the outer corridor, and then the door creaked open, admitting Korcesh, still in his plain Ministry robes. James's heart leapt. If Korcesh had checked his story, he would know that James had lied. He would probably know that James had not told anyone, and he would undoubtedly do something unspeakable to Lily. Korcesh's expression was entirely neutral as he walked over to James.

He squatted down, so that his toes were only a few inches away from James's feet.

"You lied to me," he murmured coldly.

"You lied to me, too," James replied, matching his tone.

"I do not thing you are as afraid of me as you ought to be."

"Where's Lily?"

Korcesh paused, as if seriously considering the answer to the question. At length, he stood up properly and said, with an amused but chilling look in his grey eyes: "She's dead."

"You're lying," said James immediately.

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"And how do you know that?"

"You wouldn't kill her," James continued with certainty. "Not only would it take away your leverage on me, but it would also leave me as the only one left who could give you the answer to your question. Plus it would look bad for the school—it might even close. Voldemort doesn't want that, does he?"

"Well aren't you clever?" snapped Korcesh. "What you are not taking into account, however, is accidents. Accidents, for example, like what happened to Miss Evans."

"I don't believe you!"

"I'm not asking you to. However, I will state again, for your own matter of interest and not mine—your friend is dead. I went to Harris myself—saw the body. She is dead."

James forced himself to breathe. He refused to let Korcesh see the battle that was fighting itself inside him. She couldn't be dead. She _wasn't_ dead. He wouldn't let himself believe it for a second. And yet while he tried to convince himself that it was all a lie and that he simply could not see the reason for it yet, a small part of him (not small enough) was aching, because that small part believed Korcesh. It believed that Lily was gone, that she had died at the pawing hands of the death eaters, and that the last time he would ever see her had already passed... laying on the wood floor, asleep, while he flinched as Korcesh touched her.

And it was because of him—because of James—that she had been murdered. He had been a coward... he had let her go on alone. He should have forced her to go back to the castle. He should have done something. But no... he had encouraged... even ordered her to go forward without him. At that moment, James hated himself as much as the death eaters.

Yet he displayed none of this. He kept his face dispassionate and felt heartless for doing so. Korcesh watched him, as if daring him to express something. When James did not, he smiled anyway. He must have seen the Head Boy's resolve.

"Marie, Short, all of you," he said, not taking his eyes off of James. "Prepare yourselves to leave."

"We're going?" Marie asked, clearly surprised.

"I have heard from the Master..." The air pressure seemed to drop drastically at these words. "We are to go to my office immediately. The aurors are searching the area; they've already set out anti-apparition wards, so we will have to leave from the clearing."

"And Harris and Tisket?"

Korcesh looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying: "Fisk. You go ahead of us. Tell Harris and Tisket to apparate to my office."

"In the Ministry?"

"Yes, of course." Fisk exited hurriedly through the door.

"What about Grisham?" Marie pressed, gathering the bag she had used to heal James.

"He still has not resurfaced?"

"No."

"He must have left then. He has not been caught, or I would have been informed. Are you ready?" Everyone said that they were. "Good. Stand up, Boy." James did not, so Korcesh gave a nod to Russia, who _assisted _him up. "Short, keep your wand on him at all times. We cannot levitate him... it would be a waste of a wand that we may need on the road to the clearing. He will walk on his own, but do not give him any leeway."

"Of course," said Short coolly. He drew his wand and pointed it at James. "Come along." This time, James complied, and the party moved out of the room. They walked down the corridor and stair, till they came to the lower landing and the main room. In the next room over, James happened to know that there was a door and a tunnel that would lead to the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts, but they did not take that route. Instead, they walked to the edge of the room.

Marie pointed her wand at the wall that stood between the group and fresh air. She waved it once, and a portion of it burst apart. They all stepped through the new hole (Short poked James in the back with his wand as they went), and then Marie resealed the wall.

At first, the journey was not very difficult, as no one ever came near the Shrieking Shack, but as they moved off the hill to the lower ground, more and more aurors began to appear. Usually, even these paths were deserted, but not tonight. It would appear that the Ministry was looking for someone. It was not for some time that James realized who that must be.

Him. They were searching for him. They must have discovered he was missing...

Immediately, James was tempted to cry out to one of the aurors nearby. They were usually only on the other side of a small hill, or on the outside of a patch of trees that the party of death eaters were hiding in. He did not, however, for he knew that the only thing it would accomplish would be a blow to the head from Russia and the death of whatever unfortunate auror came to investigate.

The trek from the Shack to the forest was much more troublesome for James's captors, and he could sense their relief when they hit the tree line.

"It is this way," Korcesh directed, now leading the way. Everyone followed until they came to the start of the dirt path that James had discovered earlier. It was some way into the forest, probably—James guessed—for security sake, but a bit of the lake was still visible. The situation was well planned, admittedly. One who knew where it was would be able to find it with ease, but it would be difficult to merely stumble upon it.

The path was wide enough for a total of four to walk side-by-side down it. As it was, they traveled with two of the death eaters in front, followed by James and a death eater on either side, and finishing with the final three walking behind them, Short's wand now jabbing the back of James's neck. They walked in silence for some time, but the quiet was disturbed by the sounds of footsteps on the path ahead.

"Quick," ordered Korcesh, and everyone was immediately rushed into the forest. James was pulled behind a tree with Short, who warned him to be silent, "or else." The figure coming down the path, however, turned out to be Fisk.

They returned to the open immediately.

"You're back already?" Korcesh asked quickly. "Well? Did you tell them? Harris and Tisket?"

Fisk shook his head, and James noticed beads of sweat dripping down his thick, balding head. "I didn't get there," he said, breathless. "I ran into a problem."

"What problem?" Marie demanded.

"I was chased," Fisk explained. "There was a wolf or... something. Anyway, I found... I found Grisham."

"And...?"

"Marie should have a look at him."

"We do not want to waste time."

"It's _Grisham,_ Korcesh," snapped Fisk. "I grew up with him!"

"Regrettable."

"Is it on the way, Fisk?" asked Marie, glancing reproachfully at Korcesh.

Fisk nodded. "Only a little off the path."

Korcesh sighed. "Very well. We should hurry, though."

After that, the pace quickened a great deal, and Fisk now led the way. Only occasionally did James feel the jab of the wand on his neck, which told him that Short was now distracted. Presently, Fisk jerked his head, indicating for the party to follow him off of the road, into the thicket. They did so, and for a minute or so they continued on that course. Then, Fisk came to a halt, and everyone else imitated him.

"Just there," the death eater said, pointing ahead, and Marie hurried beyond the rest of the group, which eventually followed.

On the ground lay a bleeding man, whom James correctly supposed must be Grisham. The Head Boy's breath caught... Fisk said something about a wolf. That must have been Remus...

"Can he speak?" Korcesh asked, businesslike.

Marie was examining him. "It doesn't look as if he's been bitten," she murmured, checking over his wounds hastily. "No, only scratch marks... deep and bloody, but not bites."

"I _asked_ if he could speak."

"I should stop the bleeding before I..."

"_Can he speak_?" Korcesh pressed.

Marie bent lower. "Alec," she murmured. "Alec, can you hear me?"

After a moment, Alec croaked a shaky, "Yes."

"How did this happen?"

"I... I open... opened the Shack," Grisham whispered, and it obviously gave him pain. "H-H-Harris ordered m-m-me to. There... there was a... a werew-w-w-wolf. I t-t-tried to r-r-run. It caught me. S-s-scratched me. Something...something sc-scared it away."

"Did anyone see you?" Korcesh wanted to know.

Grisham shook his head weakly.

"Alright. Fisk..."

"Yes, sir?"

"Kill him."

"_What_?"

"Kill him, Fisk. If he is found he will talk, and we cannot take him with us—he would only slow us down. Now kill him... _Now_, Fisk." Still, the death eater hesitated. "The Master assigned me in charge of this operation, Fisk," Korcesh continued. "If I give an order, it is as if the Master were giving one."

Fisk raised his wand and pointed it at Grisham. "I'm sorry, friend," he said, and then: "_Avada Kedavra_." There was a flash of green light, and the slow rising and falling of Grisham's chest ceased. They stood for a moment, staring at the dead body before them, before Marie spoke.

"We should go. It's getting..." And then she broke off, having heard something. They all had heard it. It was a low, but distinct and threatening growl. They looked about, everyone's wands raised (Short was still directing his at James).

"Look!" muttered Russia suddenly, pointing into the darkness. Two glowing eyes were visible, and they were approaching.

"Kill it!" ordered Korcesh, and as several tried to do so, the creature, which they all knew must be a werewolf (and which James knew must be Remus) dodged their curses and bounded towards them.

Chaos reigned, and James took the opportunity. He turned on Short and grabbed the wand, kicking the death eater back as he did so. He stunned Marie, who was the first to notice his action, and shot a hex at Korcesh, though he did not know whether it was successful, as he was too busy dodging both Russia and the werewolf.

Remus—as the werewolf—immediately pounced on Fisk, digging his claws into his chest and causing the death eater to scream in pain. James shot a stunning spell at one of the death eaters he did not know, and the werewolf, as if he had been planning it with the Head Boy, immediately pounced on the other. Then, however, the wolf turned on James, as if about to attack. James was one step ahead... he knew Remus would not recognize him in his current state and would not hesitate to attack. What he had to do was make himself recognizable.

He waved the wand in his hand and muttered something under his breath. A moment later, a familiar thrill ran through him as he found himself transforming from eighteen-year-old wizard into a fully-grown stag. Remus was quite thrown aback by this and as James tried to step forward, darted off into the forest. James transformed once more into a human, and bent over Korcesh's unconscious body. The hex must have succeeded.

James's wand was hanging out of the death eater's pocket. James grabbed it quickly and pocketed Short's. He would have taken all the others' but there was no time. Short himself was starting to get recover already, and James stunned him. Then, he waved his own wand, and transformed back into the stag.

Gathering his strength, James ran—or galloped, really—in the direction Remus had gone. Moving as a stag was significantly more efficient, but Remus was rather quick as a werewolf as well, and for a while James could not catch sight or sound of him. He did not even know if he was still heading in the right direction.

At length, however, he saw light.

The clearing.

Harris and Tisket would be there... perhaps even Lily's body.

'_She's not dead_,' James thought to himself, rather unconvinced. He pushed himself to go just a little faster and then suddenly found himself galloping down into the basin-like clearing.

There was so much to take in, that James—though he saw it all—did not even begin to register it. What he saw was this: there were two bodies (unconscious or dead, he did not know), in black cloaks, and they were tied up. Remus was there, he was crouching over something, ready to bite it... her. It was Lily.

Knowing that he would injure Remus, but knowing all the same that it was necessary, James galloped over and—with precision so as not to hit the terrified redhead—knocked the werewolf off of her. He landed safely on the other side, and Remus tumbled in a sort of somersault, till he was also on his feet. Werewolf and stag stared at each other for what seemed to James an eternity. He thought he saw faint recognition in the grey eyes of the creature, but James could not risk trying to make peace while Lily was there.

He stamped his hoofs, which caused the very ground to shake, and the frightened werewolf, slinked off into the woods, where it broke into a run. James turned to Lily. She was staring at him, eyes wide, mouth wide, and James supposed that had he been human he would have had a similar reaction. It took a moment for him to realize that she was still clueless. She did not see James standing before him; she saw a large, white stag.

Her wand was pointed at him, but her hands were shaking. She seemed to be saying "Explain yourself!" except that she was not speaking at all. James could only comply. He transformed himself back into a human. Lily looked ready to pass out.

James could only be relieved. He breathed heavily, as if he was breathing for the first time in the last half hour. What exactly needed to be said, he did not know, but what he did say—in a relieved tone—turned out to be exactly what she said—in a completely confused one:

"You're alive."

* * *

**Note**: Well there you go. Ha, ha, I know, I know. That was cheap of me—but hey, at least you know what James was up to all that time. Again, I love the reviewers! You guys are absolutely **amazing**—Hope you'll R&R again :-P 

For the gorgeous anonymous reviewers: **jimbobthehobo **(thank you _very_ much), **eve1980** (HIGH FIVE! Woot! Lol, here's your update! Love and cookies! :-P), **fajita **(Thanks for the wonderful review! I'm so glad you like the story—esp. characters. _I'm_ still trying to work out the cheese thing :-P), **luisipisa** (glad you liked the chapter! Help yourself to virtual cookies! Lily _could_ have untied her hands, had she had time to concentrate and do so—it's a little difficult to hold a wand and point it at your own wrists. But everything was happening quickly that she wanted to get out of there ASAP, so she didn't have time just yet. As for the unspoken spell, I attribute it to her state of panic as well. Much love!), **Karen** ("The Death Eaters really did find him and told him the same thing Lily was told: your friend is dead, who else knows?"—v. nicely put! Lol. Thank you SO much for the wonderful review! I'm glad I make you happy; you make me happy :-D), and **Amazon 101 **(thank you so much for reviewing! I really work on James, so I'm glad he's good! Much love and cookies).

Wow, evidently, I'm in a long-winded mood.

I had _sixteen _pages of the next chapter written, but now I can't find it! GAH! Hopefully I'll be able to find it, because if I don't, I'm bound to forget something and I _hate_ rewriting! So won't you please, please me? ...I mean review. It was SO helpful with 22—you have no idea!

Love and cookies to readers and reviewers and... I'll stop now. I have a chapter to find...

Cheers,  
Jewels


	24. Wars

**NftC**: So, I found the sixteen pages, but once I started to type them out, I realized I wanted to change a whole lot. That's why it took me some time. Anyway, love and cookies to the most wonderful reviewers on the PLANET! If I could marry you all, I would.

**History**: Shout out to the wonderful JKR—she owns it all.

**Recap**: Lily leaves James in the forest (el gasp!) and goes on to find the foreigner, but... that doesn't really work out. She runs into Snape, then Snape leaves, then she's taken by death eaters. James meanwhile, has a real sucky time at it. He finds a path, but is also taken by death eaters, and when he comes around he's in the shrieking shack (Remus-less). Korcesh is the Foreigner (el gasp!) and he "questions" James about who else knows where he is. Lily, meanwhile, is taken to the shrieking shack unconscious, and used as leverage. She is then taken to the clearing to be questioned, and James is knocked out. Korcesh tells James that Lily is dead (other DE's tell Lily that James is dead) and that he's going to be transported to the clearing for transportation the Korcesh's office. On the way, stuff happens, the DE's kill one of their own, and a werewolf attacks. Meanwhile, Lily is "questioned" by DE's and manages to kick their asses and nearly escape. James transforms into a stag to chase the werewolf (Remus), who nearly kills Lily, but James rescues her. And this damn recap is too long.

On a side-note... I've begun posting the first chapters of this on unknowableroom. I'm beginning to like that site, although the uploading process there is far more complicated than it should be :-P

**Chapter 24**- **"Wars"**  
"_War is not nice..."­_ –Barbara Bush  
(It was a toss-up between that and Jimmy Carter's "necessary evil" quote. I flipped a coin.)

--

"You're alive," they stated in unison, marveling at the very concept that the words implied. They stared for a moment longer, before Lily added: "...and a horse."

"A stag actually," James corrected awkwardly.

"Right. Of course."

"Listen," he pressed, now urgent; "I can explain everything but... the werewolf—I have to go get him... y'know? No, I guess you don't but... I'll—I'll be right back."

"You—_what_?"

But James was already morphing once more into the white stag. He turned and galloped into the woods, leaving Lily alone and confused. "Er... okay," she murmured to the thin air. She did not honestly think that anyone had ever uttered a sentence to her even remotely similar to the one James had just very weakly attempted to articulate. She looked about for something to do with herself, and noticed that the death eater called Tisket was still not tied up. She proceeded to bind and gag him. With some difficulty, she managed to disappear the ropes around her own wrists, and then she waited.

A little over a minute later, the sound of James's... hoofs... could be heard again. He appeared a moment later. He was James again a moment after that, and he hurried over to Lily.

"Are you okay?" he asked hastily. "You're bleeding—your lip."

"What? Oh..." she felt the corner of her mouth and discovered that it was, in fact, bleeding. "I didn't know. What about you? You're bleeding all over! Oh, Merlin—are you _alright?_ Your head!" She pushed his hair back to examine the bruise that was visible there. "This has been treated, hasn't it? Who treated it? And what's going on? Why are you a stag? And there werewolf—what...? Snape said he didn't... they told me you were... are you okay? I mean, I thought..." Her words were completely frenzied by now, and it was only with a good deal of self-control that she stopped herself from becoming completely hysterical.

James shushed her as soothingly as he possibly could, taking hold of her upper arms as he did so. "I'm fine, Lily. Perfect. Great. Fantastic. It's alright. You're okay now... you're okay. Right? _Are you okay_?"

But Lily's thoughts were too blurry to answer immediately or intelligently. Everything swirled around incomprehensibly in her head. The effects of the Cruciatus Curse combined with the sudden surprise of seeing James alive, seeing him transform into a stag, and seeing him chase a werewolf into the forest was overall too much. "If you have a barking mad sense of 'okay' then, yes, James, I'm absolutely lovely." She breathed a few times to gather herself. "Yes, I'm okay. W-w-what's going on?"

"We have to get out of here," James said sympathetically but earnestly. "I'll explain everything, but... you... we have to get out of here."

Lily composed herself a little and nodded. "Yes of course." She followed as James led the way rather hastily out of the clearing and into the woods. Her thoughts were disjointed and disorganized, and she struggled to articulate one of the millions of questions that circulated inside her head. "Did you find the werewolf?" she stammered eventually.

"Er... yeah... I tied him up... he'll be able to get out once he's human again, but for now he won't be bothering anyone."

"B-b-but who is it?"

"Well," began James, struggling for words. "It's not... I mean, I _would _tell you but... it's not really my secret to tell."

Lily did not exactly know how she was supposed to answer that. "Oh. Alright then..." she managed to articulate. "And you... are you a... an animagus? Unregistered?"

He nodded a little guiltily, but Lily was more impressed than accusatory. She was about to say so, but James interrupted, rather abruptly. "Listen," he said, looking over at Lily with uncertainty, "are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"Achy and confused," Lily replied, pushing her hair back and sighing. "Those are the only things wrong with me. _You,_ on the other hand, are an absolute disaster. What _happened_ to you?"

"Er... well... they found me and questioned me."

Lily raised skeptical eyebrows. "Questioned," she repeated.

"Sure. They wanted to know who else was—listen, Lily..." for it suddenly occurred to him that she may not know all that had transpired while she was unconscious, "...how much do you know about what happened before you woke up?"

"Er... nothing, really. They only said something about an anti-apparition spell and... wait... how did _you_ know I was unconscious?"

"I saw you," James explained hastily. "They brought you to the Shrieking Shack... that's where I was being held. They kind of... used you as leverage."

"And they were the ones who did this to you?" Lily pressed, barely noticing her own role in the situation. "The death eaters in the shrieking shack."

"Well, yeah... Oh, and er... Korcesh is the Foreigner."

"_What_?" Lily gaped. "Korcesh? From the Ministry?"

James nodded, and Lily shut her eyes, as if everything was slowly coming to her. She groaned. "Why didn't I see it before? He was the reason for the attack on the train, then? I went to Dumbledore's office at the beginning of the year and they were having a meeting—Korcesh said he had been assigned to stay on for Hogwarts security."

"He was the one who hired Silth and modified my memories—Peter's as well."

"What about mine?"

"He used the Imperius on one of the girls in your dormitory... Rachel Brossle by the sounds of it. She couldn't have done that kind of magic unless she was cursed, and even _with_ the curse she didn't do as thorough a job as Korcesh. That's why your memories came back sooner."

"He told you this, Korcesh did?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"Mhm."

"You're limping... here..." She slipped an arm around his back, so that he could walk with the same rapidity as before, while putting less pressure on his own legs.

Naturally, he protested. "Really, I'm fine, I..."

"Shut up, James," said Lily simply. "And tell me how you... _is that a path_?" For the first time, she noticed the dirt road, which James intentionally had been leading them parallel to. He nodded.

"The death eaters made it... probably for their use when they weren't in a position to apparate to the clearing. It leads pretty near the end of the forest, but it's difficult to find, I'd imagine, if you didn't already know where it was."

"Why aren't we on it?"

"It's not safe. I escaped, but I didn't have time to tie up all the death eaters so they might wake up and try to find me... they're along the other side of the path somewhere."

"What did you _do_ tonight?" Lily marveled quietly.

James merely grinned, saying nothing. They walked for a moment in silence, Lily reflecting on everything the Head Boy had just told her. Than an idea struck her. "It's Remus, isn't it?" she murmured.

"What?"

"Remus... the werewolf. It's him, isn't it?"

"How did you...?"

"I guessed it was one of the Marauders when you said that it wasn't your secret to tell, and Remus is the logical one—he disappears so much (once a month, I suppose, now that I think about it). Oi, and there's your nicknames... he's 'Moony', right?"

James looked as if he was about to answer, when suddenly his expression changed and he held up hand to halt Lily. She complied, and they stood for a moment. The distant sound of footsteps was heard through the otherwise silent forest. "Come here," James whispered, freeing himself from Lily's assistance and leading her towards a fallen tree. They both ducked behind it and waited.

"It might not be death eaters," Lily murmured, barely audible. James gave her a curious look. "Snape sort of... found out where I was going and caught up with me. I sent him back just before I was captured. Y'know... to get help—McGonagall or someone."

James—who did not appear particularly pleased—furrowed his brow and whispered in reply: "Lily, you were taken a while ago. If Snape was going to get help, it would have come already. And what do you mean he 'found out' where you were going?"

"I had to use the pensieve, James..."

"What did you tell him?" His tone was still very quiet, but now rather cold.

"I didn't _tell_ _him_ anything," she snapped. "He had one condition to my using the pensieve, and that was that he came with me into the mem—_look_! They're coming!"

Less than satisfied, James peered over the log. She was right. The hauntingly familiar dark figures were moving up the path. They drew closer, and conversation became perceptible.

"If he managed to get the girl, they probably apparated from the clearing," said a woman's voice, which James immediately recognized as that of Marie.

"I disagree," another speaker said. The Head Boy signaled to the Head Girl and mouthed "Korcesh." She nodded, and they listened to his reasoning. "He chased the werewolf into the forest; he may not have found her at all. If he did, however, neither will be able to apparate until the anti-apparition spells wear off, which should take some time still."

"They might know the counter-curse," said a third voice, James thought might have belonged to Short. The death eaters were now level with Lily and James, and the latter noticed that there were only seven, as opposed to the previous eight. He wondered if Fisk, who had been attacked by the werewolf, had met with a similar fate as the death eater Grisham.

"Perhaps," was Korcesh's only reply. They passed, and he continued. "Keep quiet now. If Potter did find the girl, they may be on the path." The progressed further and further, before they eventually disappeared into the darkness altogether. Neither Lily nor James moved yet, however. They wanted to be absolutely positive that Korcesh and the others were gone before they went out into the open. The footsteps began to fade, but still they remained in the hiding spot.

"Snape doesn't know what exactly went on in the clearing," Lily whispered suddenly, breaking the almost absolute silence.

"What?"

"I left the memory before he could see it."

"That doesn't change anything," James murmured.

"What do you mean?"

"You sent him to get help, didn't you? Just before you got captured? Well, judging by the time I saw you and how long it would take them to bring you there, that was probably about an hour ago. If he got help, why haven't they showed up by now?"

"Something might have happened. _You_ couldn't get hold a teacher... maybe he had trouble too."

"Korcesh sent Bright and probably others to make sure I didn't talk to anyone—that's why it was difficult. _Maybe_ Snape thought it would be nice to let you rot in the forest."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why are you always so determined to think the absolute worst possible about Snape? Granted, he's surly and difficult and unpleasant, but that doesn't make him a murderer. It doesn't make him _evil_."

"Why are _you_ always so determined to think he's an angel?" retorted James, eyes narrowing. "C'mon. We should keep going."

They were still speaking in whispers as they got up from their hiding place behind the fallen tree. "He let me use his pensieve, didn't he?" Lily pointed out.

"For a price. He wanted to know what was going on. _Ulterior motives_, Red. He followed you into the forest, right?"

"You think that just because he's a Slytherin..."

"He left just before you got captured. That's a little suspicious, too."

"Oh," scoffed Lily, temper rising. "'Cause _you_ were there all the time for me, yeah?" The moment the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. Her hand clapped over her mouth, as if in an attempt to stop herself from saying anything else stupid, and for a fraction of a second she thought that perhaps James had not heard what she had said. Alas, there was to be no such luck. He wheeled around and opened his mouth (several times) as if to say something, before closing it again. Then, gathering himself, he turned around again and continued on the course.

Lily could not remember the last time she had felt so guilty. She quickened her pace to catch up with the Head Boy. "James, I..."

"We shouldn't talk," he interrupted bitterly. "We don't want to be overheard."

"O-okay..."

They continued in silence. It was difficult for Lily to keep up with James's long, quick strides; his legs had seemingly recovered, probably out of fear of what James would do to them if they failed to cooperate. Lily dared not ask him to slow down, however. Instead, she jogged along side, silently cursing herself and her uncontrolled tongue. And just when they had been getting along so well...

A part of Lily—the smallest part—wanted to convince her that she was overreacting. It was _James_ for goodness sake! They had practically lived to annoy each other for the past six years. So what if he was a little insulted? He had done plenty to insult her!

But most of Lily was not to be persuaded. That had been way below the belt, first of all. She had been conscious for about ten minutes of torture, but here was James—bloody and bruised and almost limping... he had just saved her from a bloody _werewolf_! And then she remembered how she had felt when Harris had told her that he was dead. A similar, if slightly less acute, ache settled in her chest, and, unable to stand the cursed, guilty silence, she ended it.

"James, I'm..."

"Shhh!"

"James," Lily went on, whispering sternly; "You have to listen. I..."

"Did you hear that?" he interrupted.

She submitted this time, shaking her head. James had stopped walking now, and he held up his hand once again to signal silence. Lily watched him as he listened carefully, and when a rustling noise sounded in the distance, she heard it too. She pointed ahead to indicate the direction it had been coming from, but James shook his head. He sighed, slow realization dawning on his face.

"Shit."

"What?" Lily whispered, bewildered.

"We're surrounded."

"How do you...?"

"Trust me; we are."

Their eyes locked for a half a second, communicating—in eye language—the thought foremost in their respective minds.

Run.

Without saying anything, the two took off at an absurd sprint to the right. All Hell took that moment to break loose. Suddenly, hexes were flying through the air and Lily had to concentrate not only on staying on her feet, but also on avoiding them. She did not see James, but she knew he was right behind her. Though Peter was absent, the sensation of running with him through the forest with the Head Boy was strikingly familiar.

"Déjà vu," she muttered to herself.

After maybe a minute, the hexes seemed to lessen, though Lily's pace did not. She glanced over her shoulder when she thought it might be safe to in order to see James, but in doing so tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. She skidded a little, and then got to her feet. And then the real shock came, for James was not standing behind her. He was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, shit, shit, shit."

Lily ducked behind a tree and, readying her wand, inquired in a loud whisper: "_James_?" There was no answer. "_James_?" Silence.

There was no indecision now. Perhaps James had been caught by the death eaters, or perhaps he had merely sought escape by a different route, but whatever had happened for him, she had to go back. Keeping low, Lily deserted protection behind the tree and crept back towards the path. Just before she reached it, however, she squatted down behind a patch of shrubs so that though her vision of the path was clear, she was sufficiently hidden.

James was there. His wand was drawn but resting at his side. Lily counted nine death eaters, five behind and four in front of him, every wand (though Lily noticed that a few were lacking theirs) raised and directed towards James. They were giving him space, however. There seemed to be some sort of negotiation taking place, for Lily noticed Korcesh step forward.

"What is this 'deal', Potter?" he asked, his voice cold, yet slightly amused.

James appeared perfectly calm as he spoke. "You have me," he admitted dispassionately. "You could kill me or do whatever you want, but Lily's gone, and you'll need me to get her."

"We do not _need_ any such thing," replied Korcesh coolly. "I could send Harris and Marie and they would have your friend in five minutes." Lily noticed the death eater that had tortured her standing next to Korcesh, wandless. She smirked to herself, noting the two wands currently in her pocket.

"Then send them," said James, with shocking indifference. "But when you do, bear in mind we've already established I'm not a complete idiot, contrary to the belief of a few of your friends there..." He gave a particular nod to a handful of the death eaters. "I believe I wasn't 'bright' enough—is that right?"

"We should kill him," said one of the death eaters standing behind James.

"Shut up," ordered Korcesh coldly. "I'm intrigued. Perhaps, Potter, you only came here to buy your girlfriend time?"

James scoffed. "Lily's great, I'll grant you, but not _that_ great. I wouldn't risk _me_ for _her_."

"Then why did you come back?"

"Because I'm a bloody wreck and I couldn't outrun you. _So..._ I have a deal."

"As you said. What is it?"

James breathed noticeably, and Lily recognized that he was gathering his courage to do something she could only assume would be very, very stupid. "I duel you, Korcesh. If I win, you let me go. If I lose, I tell you where Lily is going to be. You could torture me to find out, but that would take time, and anyway, I don't think that turned out so well last time. Did it, Russia?"

"Russia?" Lily breathed, bewildered, before she noticed James nodding towards and extremely thickset death eater before him. She could have sworn she heard the death eater growl at his address. Korcesh, however, said nothing for a moment.

When he did speak, he sounded amused again. "You think that you could duel me?"

"So it would appear."

"And I suppose you'll have conditions planned out...?"

"Funny you should ask. I do."

"Well?"

"Your friends don't move until the end of the duel?"

"What would constitute the end?"

James smirked a little. "You disarm and disable me, because I'll still have to tell you where Lily is. For you... the only end."

Korcesh looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alright. Deal." James nodded.

"If I win, your friends don't touch me."

"Of course."

"Alright, then." James's tone was final. "We'll need some space…" he gave significant looks to the death eaters on either side of him. Korcesh gave a small nod, and the groups took a few steps back. Lily could not believe what was happening.

She knew James. He was _not_ an idiot. At least, he was not _this_ much of an idiot. He may have been cocky enough to believe he could win, but he was _not in a million years_ stupid enough to think that the death eaters would honor their word if he did. None of this was about _him_. Korcesh was right—though he did not know it. James was buying time... for _her._

"Oh, Merlin, you idiot," she whispered, hand over her mouth. "If you survive, I'm going to _kill _you."

But now he had no choice. Lily watched, horrified, as James and Korcesh stepped back to an appropriate distance. Both had their respective wands at the ready. They bowed.

"Shall you count, or shall I?" Korcesh asked, clearly not believing James had even the slightest chance.

"Oh, I'll allow you the honor,."

"As you wish. On the mark. One... two... three... _STUPEFY!"_

However at the same moment Korcesh shouted his spell, James shouted "Protego!"

The stunning spell was deflected and James quickly moved out of the away to avoid the next hex Korcesh sent hurling towards him. He, meanwhile, shouted "Expelliarmus!" but Korcesh had plenty of time to block this with a shield charm. This hardly deterred the Head Boy, as he expertly dodged Korcesh's unspoken disarming spell with a somersault. Quidditch, Lily observed, was not as useless as some would have you believe.

'_Expelliarmus!_' James thought, concentrating hard. The jet of red light that sped from his wand only missed Korcesh by centimeters. The death eater laughed, sending a hex of his own towards James, but he was able to stop it with another shield charm. The impact, however, forced him backward, and he hit a tree with a loud crunch.

Without time to recover, Korcesh had already shouted another spell towards James. There was a split second between when he knew he could dodge the attack and when he actually did. Only at the very last moment did James slide forward, avoiding the curse and simultaneously aiming and un-vocalized "_Expelliarmus!_" towards Korcesh.

Korcesh did not have time to even know that he had missed James before the jet of red light hit him, sending his wand into the air and forcing him backwards. He was knocked entirely off balance, and when the wand landed a few yards away, he dived towards it. James was already several steps ahead of him.

_'Incendio!'_ he thoughtforcefully. A jet of something that seemed to be fire shot out from his wand and hit Korcesh in the hand. He withdrew his hand quickly, seeing the scorch that she spell had caused. The other Death Eaters moved closer, clearly ready to attack.

"No," said Korcesh quickly. "Stay back!"

The Death Eaters obeyed, though unwillingly.

"Are you going to kill me?" Korcesh asked of James. He was on his knees and though the Head Boy drew closer, wand raised and ready. his voice did not waver or shake, but remained perfectly calm. "That was the condition, Potter. _The only end_."

James smirked slightly. "Petrificus Totalus," he muttered, and Korcesh grew stiff. Only his eyes moved now, for James had put him in a full-body bind. Wondering if this could possibly work—and doubting it—James began to walk around Korcesh. Before he got to his destination, however, he heard a woman's voice somewhere behind him saying loudly, "Stupefy!"

Automatically, James ducked down and (on his knees) slid on the dirt path behind the frozen body of Korcesh. When he had a clear view of the scene, however, James saw that it was not Marie trying to stun him, as he had assumed. To the contrary, it was _Lily_ who had stunned one of the _death eaters_.

"What the...?"

But before James could even finish the question, he was drowned out by the chaos that ensued. Eight death eaters—the ninth being recently stunned—had almost instantaneously swarmed around the comparatively small redhead. More surprisingly still, she was evading them all. If the situation had not been so terribly dire, it would have been hysterically funny.

James, half forgotten, jumped out from behind Korcesh and shouted "Pellete!" aiming his wand at the large death eater (Russia, he judged) who was moments away from knocking Lily over with one of his dustbin lid hands. The death eater was pushed back, nearly knocking into another, and the attention shifted back to James as well.

Lily took the momentary distraction of the death eaters as an opportunity to jinx one who turned out to be Tisket—her old friend from the clearing. He collapsed, for his legs suddenly seemed rubbery, completely unable to sustain his weight. Lily ducked a stunning spell and tried to move towards James. A strong hand grabbed her shoulder, however, and Lily could felt the tip of her wand jabbed against her throat. With all the force she could muster, Lily elbowed her attacker in the stomach, and in the split second that he was shocked and hurt, she grabbed the wand from his loosened grip. She turned on him and, with his own wand, hit him with a "Pellete!" spell, which, at point blank range, sent him flying backwards some distance. She thrust the extra wand in her belt and moved quickly in James's direction again.

"I was buying you time!" the Head Boy shouted to her, casting a hex as he spoke.

"If you don't stop being so noble, you're going to get yourself killed! _Impedimenta!"_ The death eater Lily was aiming at blocked the spell and sent one of her own in return. Lily dodged it.

"That's _my_ business!" James replied angrily. "And for your information, I had a—_Stupefy—_plan! And it was a good one!"

"Oh yeah? What was it? _Protego!"_

"Well, I—_Stupefy!—_it was a sort of make-as-you-go plan!" However, the death eater James had tried to hit eluded the spell. There was a flash of red light, and before James knew what was properly happening, his wand was flying through the air. It landed some distance away from him. Near Lily.

James had not noticed. In one movement, he evaded a hex by diving forward and pushed forward a death eater who was attacking Lily. The death eater (possibly Harris) was on the ground under him now, and James socked him one in the jaw. In the process, he was nearly hit by a spell from one of the other death eaters, but the magic hit Harris in the arm instead, and James managed to roll off him just in time to avoid further attack.

"Here! Potter!" He looked over just in time to see catch the wand Lily was throwing to him—his own.

With one swish and an unspoken spell, he aimed his wand near a death eater. The spell missed the attacker, but it had not been James's intention to hit him. Suddenly, hot blue flames burst out of thin air, apparently burning on their own accord. The flames grew larger, and everyone was momentarily distracted.

"Lily!" the Head Boy shouted, holding out his hand for her and signaling that she follow him. She began to move towards him, but a death eater, seemingly Marie, caught her. There was a flash of white light, and Lily, with a gasp, fell to the ground, unconscious. James stared for a moment too long.

Suddenly, an almost painful numbness spread through his limbs, and he fell to his knees. The world began to grow dark and hazy, and James did not need one of the remaining death eater's victorious cry of, "We've got him!" to know he had been hit. He fell forward, but before he lost consciousness, James heard the voice of the apparently revived Korcesh spewing the order: "Pick him up! Bring them to the clearing. We will have to apparate to my office immediately. You, Short..."

Then, everything was dark and silent.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Lily did not open her eyes immediately, but instead tried to deduce as much of her surroundings as she could. Her hands were tied behind her back once again, but her ankles were free. She could feel that much. Her body ached, but that was expected. She was in a sitting position, and her back leaned against something hard, probably wooden. There were voices in the background, as well as the sound of some kind of movement. One thing was for certain: she was not out of doors in the forest any longer.

"He's coming here?" asked a woman's voice, earnest and surprised.

"Yes. Gods, your cloak, Marie. Try not to look so utterly conspicuous." This was a man's voice. Korcesh's. There were shuffling sounds, and then the woman spoke again.

"Look—the boy. He's waking."

"Yes, I see. There, Potter. Wake up, then. Come on..." Lily heard someone groaning next to her. "If she does not wake soon," Korcesh continued, "We will have to wake her ourselves." Lily did not particularly want to know what means they would use to wake her, so, after waiting a few moments, she opened her eyes slowly and looked around.

They were in a room—square and simple. James was next to her, tied in the same manner as she. They were both leaning against the front of a desk. If Lily had had to hazard a guess, she would say that they were in some sort of office. There was little furniture, and what there was had a cold, functional feel to it.

"There," said the witch, Marie. "She's awake." She walked around to stand in front of them, no longer dressed in the black, hooded robes of earlier, but rather in dark purple, business-like ones. Now that her face was visible, Lily saw that she was quite an attractive woman, seemingly in her late thirties, though one could never be certain with witches and wizards. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun on the back of her head, but several curly locks had fallen out of place in the course of the night. Her eyes were blue and her smooth skin an olive color. As for her other features, they were pronounced and bold, but not unpleasant. Actually, the only disagreeable thing about her appearance seemed to be the hard expression in her eyes and on her red lips.

"Very good," said Korcesh, and Lily looked up to see him. He was walking around from behind the desk as well, and he took a place next to Marie. His clothes seemed mostly the same as earlier, except that they were now clean again. Spectacles rested on his long, crooked nose. Then, Lily looked over at James. The blood on his face had been cleared up, and he looked considerably better.

He was glaring up at Marie and Korcesh. The four of them were alone in the room.

"Are we in the Ministry?" demanded James, following a short stare-down.

"Hold your tongue," Korcesh directed. "You will be making no more deals or demands. I will tell you only what you need to know. What you need to know is this: yes, you are in my office in the Ministry of Magic. Do not bother to shout for help: the room is sound proof. Do not bother to make any attempt at the door or windows: there are only my guards outside the former and we are, in point of fact, underground."

"What are we doing here?" Lily asked sharply.

Korcesh smiled condescendingly at her. "You disappointed me," he confessed, rather off subject. "Harris told me how you gained possession of a wand, bargained with him, cheated him, and escaped. I was expecting a much brighter witch than you turned out to be. A brighter witch would not have come back for _him._" He glanced at James, then returned to Lily. "But perhaps you felt that you owed him for what happened to him in the Shack. Perhaps you did, but it would have been wiser for you to escape and live with the guilt."

"Maybe I'm not too bright, but it speaks poorly of your death eaters, as it took nine of them some time to catch me."

"A situation you would not have been in had you been a little brighter," observed Korcesh. "But it is of no consequence. You are here, which is all that matters." He turned and looked at the clock on the wall, which Lily noted read about a quarter past eleven. "Any moment then," Korcesh murmured, probably to himself. He began to pace. "Marie," he added. "Fetch Harris... and make certain the other offices on the level are clear." Marie nodded, exiting the office.

"What's got you so excited?" James asked impassively.

A slight smirk passed over Korcesh's thin lips. "I would not wish to ruin the surprise," he said cryptically. "Let us settle to say that very soon your fates will be determined... one way or the other."

"We've seen too much for you to let us live," James pointed out. "Haven't our fates already been determined?"

"You may be fortunate. Perhaps you will simply leave with a mysterious case of amnesia."

Silence reigned for a few minutes, until the door opened, admitting Marie. She was followed by a wizard in brown robes that Lily thought must be Harris without his death eater attire. Korcesh looked up when they arrived. "Well?"

"Any moment," replied Harris, excitement evident in him as well. "The corridor is clear. Everyone else on the level has gone home. I spoke to your secretary just before she went home, as you ordered. She put the request through to delay the anti-apparition security."

"It was granted?"

Harris nodded. "For an extra quarter of an hour."

"That's all?"

"It was all that she could bargain."

"Very well. You told her I was working late?" Harris nodded again. "Is there anyone else still in the area?"

"More than usual, I'm afraid. There are three witches working upstairs and a handful of stragglers working on the floor below as well, but those are planning to leave in the next half hour anyway. I spoke to them a few minutes ago... maintaining cover, of course..." he added in response to Korcesh's raised eyebrow. "Chances are, no one will come through the corridor—even the floor—till tomorrow morning."

Korcesh appeared less than pleased with this appraisal. "Place the two more guards Tisket brought at the ends of the corridors. Make sure _no one_ comes here. If someone does come, have an pretext arranged." Harris bowed slightly and then exited, shutting the door behind him. Korcesh turned to Marie. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she murmured, smiling broadly.

"We will wait in the corridor." Korcesh directed her towards the door, and both began to leave. He, however, stopped at the door, and turned to Lily and James. "I shall return presently. There are some matters that must be attended to." And he left.

Now alone, Lily glanced over at James. "Are you alright?"

He nodded.

"You're sure?"

He nodded again.

With a sigh, Lily pushed herself up with her feet. Using the sturdy desk as leverage, she managed to get into a standing position, and she looked about the room. It was unusually bare. There was no chair behind the desk, no papers on the desk, no pictures of a wife or mother or anything. The blinds on the window were drawn and Lily walked over to scope the situation.

The blinds, however, must have been magically fastened to the bottom of the window, for they would not budge. Lily sighed again and returned to the front of the desk. James had not moved. He just sat there, his expression hard.

"James."

He blinked in acknowledgement, but did not otherwise move. Lily sat down next to him again. She wanted to apologize for hinting that he was a coward earlier, and for messing ups his "plan" back on the path, and for anything else that she could possibly have to apologize for, but she couldn't. Instead, she chose a different route.

"What happened in the Shrieking Shack?" she asked, imitating him and keeping her gaze straight ahead.

"Nothing."

"You're lying. Everyone's been hinting at it... something happened. Something got you bloodied up. Did they ask you where I was?"

He hesitated, then said: "Yeah. They kicked me around a bit. That's all."

Lily looked at him searchingly. "Did you tell them what they wanted to know?"

For the first time, James showed signs that he had even heard her. He met her stare and asked sharply: "Is that what you think happened?"

It was not, but she wanted him to say so. "That's what they told me," she replied simply. "And you won't deny it."

"Well I..." he began uncertainly. "I... he asked me... I..."

"Why don't you just say it? You didn't tell them, did you?"

James shook his head slowly and looked away again. "Korcesh found out from Silth that I knew he was supposed to have a meeting in the clearing. A group of death eaters found you when they were looking for me."

"They tortured you but you didn't tell them," murmured Lily. Again, she knew it was so, but she wanted his confirmation. She wanted him to say it.

"I guess. But what does it matter?" he added sulkily. "As we all know, I let you go on alone, unlike dear _Severus_."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Real mature, James. You _know_ I..."

But she was interrupted by the creaking open of the door. Marie stepped in, her blue eyes positively alight with anticipation. She smiled maliciously at the two students, then held the door open. Korcesh stepped in. He moved hastily out of the way for the third.

A tall, cloaked and hooded man entered. His face was invisible under the hood, but the air pressure in the room seemed to drop drastically at his entry. He stood directly before Lily and James and seemingly looked down at them. Lily felt as if he was reading every emotion and thought that ran through her. She shivered, and she could feel, rather than see, the man's smirk.

And then he spoke. "Untie them," he said in a smooth and quiet voice. An order from him was not one to be refuted. Korcesh and Marie immediately pointed their already drawn wands at the students, causing the ropes on their wrists to disappear. Lily brought her wrists around so that they were in front of her, rubbing the red marks where the bonds had cut into her skin.

"They are children," the wizard stated, barely above a whisper. In fact, it was closer to a hiss.

"Please, Master, they're..."

He silenced Marie with a look. If there had been any remaining doubt in Lily's mind about who this wizard was, it now vanished. Her heart was beating hard and fast, but she kept her expression strong, knowing she must be very pale. This was him. This was Voldemort.

"You are quite correct," said Voldemort, apparently to Lily. She started. "I am he." Very slowly, he raised his arms and with deathly white hands took hold of the front fold of his hood. He lifted it from his head. The room seemed instantly to shrink and grow dark. The face was worse than anyone could have suspected. His skin was stretched and pale; his nose just snake-like slits; and his eyes red, hateful, and sharp. A mirthless smile was on his thin lips as he looked at Lily. "Are you afraid?" he hissed.

Lily met his eyes. "Yes."

His smile broadened. "Good." He turned to Korcesh. "Bring her to the room across the hall. Keep her there, but do not touch her until I give the order." Korcesh bowed and raised his wand, but Voldemort cut him off. "She is a _child_," he pointed out coldly. Again, Korcesh bowed. He lowered his wand and, grabbing Lily by the upper arm, forced her to her feet. She was reluctant to go, but Korcesh jabbed his wand against the arch of her back, forcing her forward. "If she should try to escape," said Voldemort, "Kill her."

Marie opened the door with her wand, and Lily walked out, followed by Korcesh. Voldemort merely glanced at Marie, which she took as her cue to leave as well. She left the room, shutting the door behind her, and leaving James quite alone. Voldemort turned now to the Head Boy and looked condescendingly down at him.

"What is your name?" he asked simply.

"You mean you don't already know?"

"What is your name?" he repeated.

James hesitated, but then, very reluctantly, replied: "James Potter."

"Potter... An old family."

James said nothing, as no confirmation or denial was really required.

"Your father is... David Potter, I think?"

He nodded dully.

"And Charlus Potter would be your uncle, then..." Again, James nodded. "Charlus is a great wizard."

Had he been in the presence of anyone else, James would have rolled his eyes. He knew that Voldemort could see into his mind, and it was only the absolute resignation to the fact that nothing he could say would cause this wizard to spare his life, that even allowed him to think derisively.

"You disagree," Voldemort stated.

"Charlus murdered his only son," James replied. "He's not exactly my idol."

"_You_ are more like your father, then... obsessed with convention."

James's anger, along with his courage, was mounting. "Convention?" he scoffed, a little louder than he intended. "Right and wrong are more than _conventions_."

"Spare me the ideology. The concepts of right and wrong may be sufficient to bind the mob, but not the elite."

"Which you, of course, are a part of."

Voldemort smiled mockingly. "You _hate _me," he stated, as if nothing could give him more pleasure than to know this of James. "You _hate_ what I do." For the first time, James did not meet the red eyes that stared down at him. He did not want for Voldemort to be right, but he was. He did hate the massacres that Voldemort ordered and carried out. "Your emotions are so close to the surface. You are easy to read."

But James would not let this wizard—if he could even be called that anymore—read his thoughts. He cleared his head of everything except anger and focused on that. He did not even know why he chose this method of keeping his mind his own, but it seemed right. He would not give in so easily. He had been beaten, hexed, and tortured in a million and half ways today, and he was not going to surrender after all that.

"You are blocking me," Voldemort noted, quite undeterred. "Now that's interesting. Stand up."

James did not comply.

"If you think that you are being brave by resisting me, you are wrong."

Slowly, James pushed himself up, so that he was standing. Voldemort was taller than he was, but not much. The Head Boy willed himself to feel taller—to not cower under the red stare.

"Do you think that you cannot be touched?" Voldemort continued smoothly. "Do you think that because your father is dying and because you have been beaten today, and that you are foolishly unafraid of death, that nothing can hurt you?" He took a step closer. "You're wrong." The red eyes flashed. "You are very wrong. You have forgotten about your mother. Dear Sweet Mrs. Potter. And your friends? What of them? Do you think that they are safe at Hogwarts? You are not afraid of dying, but are you afraid of what might happen to...?" He stopped, and James knew why. He had let his guard down. For the smallest fraction of a second, he had allowed himself to think about what Voldemort was saying, to be frightened. It was exactly what _he_ had wanted.

"Of course," he hissed, smiling cruelly. "You think of _her_. Now, that really is too easy. Sit down." James sat down. He was not breathing quite properly.

Voldemort turned and opened the door. "Korcesh," he said, and Korcesh was in the room a moment later.

"Yes, Master?"

"Stay here with the boy. Make sure that he does not move." And Voldemort swept out of the room. James was more frightened then ever before as Korcesh shut the door behind him.

Across the hall, Lily sat in a very similar vacant office, except that this office was somehow more normal. There were a few papers lying about, and a picture or two situated on the desk. Lily guessed that this office, unlike Korcesh's across the corridor, had not been specifically prepared for Lily and James. She did not sit for too long (Marie and Harris kept constant watch on her—Korcesh having left immediately) in that manner.

At length, the door opened, admitting first an unknown wizard, and then, much to Lily's surprise, Voldemort himself. She thought it grew suddenly colder in the room. Just as he had done in the other office earlier, he stepped directly in front of Lily and looked down at her. She did not meet his stare, but rather forced herself to look determinedly ahead. Marie, Harris, and the other wizard immediately departed for the outer corridor, and when the door had shut, Lily suddenly found herself less afraid.

Some sort of courage took hold of her, and she was not afraid of what Voldemort might do to her. She continued to stare boldly forward.

"One has to wonder," Voldemort hissed, as if he were thinking aloud for the sake of the girl before him. "One has to wonder why you."

Lily would not give him the satisfaction of enquiring to his meaning. She remained silent.

"The boy," continued Voldemort in his low, smooth voice. "Potter... across the hallway... he is very easy to read."

"Am I?" asked Lily dispassionately.

A slow smile spread over his lips. "You are attempting to block me."

But Lily could not have replied to this if she had wanted to. Now, she was focusing too intently on not allowing him to get inside her head to allow herself any time to speak. The smile on Voldemort's thin lips grew a little broader.

"You are more efficient at it than he was. You are more subdued." Still, Lily said nothing. "It is a pity..."

She allowed herself an, "Oh?"

"You are a mudblood," he elaborated. "Powerful with magic, I believe, but a mudblood."

"And no mudblood has the right to live?" Lily snapped, not forgetting to keep her mind as blank as possible.

"They are weak. Even ones as powerfully magical as you are weak. They cannot even be considered the same level of being as a wizard whose blood is of an ancient line."

_'He's trying to rile you up. He's trying to get you to forget yourself. Don't let him. Don't let him get in your head.'_

"I'm sure you're not here to indoctrinate me," Lily said after a brief silence in the most even voice she could muster. "I would never be able to understand you. I'm weak."

"You are correct, of course," Voldemort agreed, stepping back. "I came here to decide whether or not I will have you killed."

"I'm flattered," said Lily through gritted teeth. "Have you decided?"

Voldemort's red eyes watched her a moment longer, but she did not cower under his gaze. She kept her back straight and her expression strong. He turned and walked to the door, opened it, and then turned back to Lily.

"Carrow," he said coolly, and the unknown wizard from earlier immediately stepped in. "Bring the lovely Miss Lily Evans..." He cast a victorious smile at Lily; she had not told her name to him and he must have read her thoughts to discover it, "...to our friend Mr. Potter."

Lily complied with the wand that jabbed into her back and walked across the hallway to Korcesh's office. In the corridor, she did glance about, but she saw that escape was hopeless. There were other wizards in the corridor, but they were all death eaters. In the office, Lily sat down next to James again, leaning against the desk as before. He appeared relieved to see her.

Korcesh was already inside, and Marie entered after her, followed by Lord Voldemort.

"Master, the anti-apparition wards will start up at any moment," Korcesh said hastily.

Voldemort nodded slowly. He raised his hood over head again and looked down at Lily and James. "Yes, Korcesh, I will leave. In about one hour the building will be completely clear. Kill them then."

He turned and left the room.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**Note**: Yeah, I'm evil. I think that the scene between Lily and James where they argue about Snape is one of my favorite of their interactions so far. I don't know why, but I like it. I HATE WRITING VOLDEMORT. Not because he's evil or whatever, it's just because he's SO damn impossible! He's even harder than Dumbledore, I swear, and Dumbledore is pretty difficult.

Anyway, the next chapter is going to be hard, I can tell. Still, I've had the whole first part written for months, so hopefully it won't be too long till the update. Won't you please be a love and review:-P

Shout out to the absolutely fantabulous anonymous reviewers: **CarynG** (thank you much! I had fun writing James's POV :-P love and cookies), **Riviera **(the fact that you used the word 'wicked' puts you in my awesome-book. Thanks for R&Ring!), **lilyismename** (hey ya! Thanks for reviewing :-D glad you liked the chapters! Much love and many cookies!), and **Karen** (I'm so proud of you, gorgeous! Figuring out who the Foreigner was:-P Haha! I got a sort of malicious glee out of using the cliffhanger twice... very cruel, I know. Anywho, hope you like this chapter—there are some lovely virtual cookies waiting for you :-P). The lovely loggers-in have kosher responses, I believe... 

Cheers,

_Jewels_


	25. Good Morning

**Note:** GAH! Yes, I am a pathetic idiot who took ten years to update. Sorry, sorry, sorry!

**History**: So I own nothing. Rights to JKR.

**Recap**: Lily and James go into the forest, get separated, get separately kidnapped, separately escape, and then reunite. Then they're walking around and get ambushed by death eaters and... separated. But then they get reunited _again_... right before getting captured again. They get taken to Korcesh's ("The Foreigner") office in the Ministry where the dear dark lord (a.k.a. Santa Claus) shows up and talks a bit before ordering the death eaters to wait an hour till the building is clear, and then kill them. So yeah, their lives pretty much suck right now.

**Chapter 25- "Good Morning"  
****(aka- "chapter 25 of this captivating tale of thrill, love, and adventure." **(cheers, ljf)

"_Fortune favors the brave_." –Virgil

Fifty-three minutes, and words seemed superfluous.

They sat there in almost utter silence, except for their own breathing and the ticking of the clock on the wall. In fifty-three minutes, they were going to be dead. The death eaters had left the pair alone. Their wrists had been tied at first, but it had taken all of five minutes to get out of the ropes. It hadn't really mattered whether they were tied up or not. There was nothing in the room that could be used for an escape, and they were both wandless.

And in fifty-two minutes, they were going to be dead.

This thought resounded in James's head for several minutes, leaving room for nothing else. He was going to die. In less than an hour.

Presently, however, the power in those words began to dissipate. For a reason that James could not possibly determine—though he could only assume it was an irrational and senseless one—he did not _feel_ like he was going to die. Perhaps it had always been some subconscious fancy of his that one could sense when the end had, at last, come, or perhaps this was an entirely new idea to his mind, but for the life of him, James could not shake it.

Now was simply not the time. He was not going to die today... not while _he_ had anything to say about it.

Alright, so he really did not have anything to _say_ about it, but still...

Lily's thoughts were occupied in a rather different manner.

Whether or not she was going to die had long ago passed through, for Lily was, as a general rule, sensible and quick-thinking, and she had accepted the fact that she could very well die very soon and there was very little that she could do about it. The room was locked, soundproof, and the only exit was guarded by God-knew-how-many death eaters. The odds weren't good. At best, they were minutely slim.

But while James's mind was filled with wonder and sudden certainty—for he _knew_ today was not his death day, and no one would convince him otherwise—Lily's mind was far more troubled. The irony of the situation did not escape her. She was going to die in an office room in the Ministry of Magic; she was going to be murdered there, with James Sodding Potter.

She was simply confused.

She was going to _die_ soon; she'd accepted it. But... what would happen to her next? She had wondered about the afterlife a few times before, but Lily's family had never been religious at all, and she had no popularly accepted view to compare with her own suppositions.

Still, Lily did believe in some sort of... retribution, some sort of afterlife. And though she had not extensively thought about where she might fit into the spectrum of "heaven" or "hell," she certainly was now. After all, there was not much else she _could_ do.

Lily sighed and looked over at James, whose expression was blank.

If there was one person she had been completely unforgiving to, and if there was one person she had never properly apologized to, it was the tall eighteen-year-old boy with messy black hair and rather nice hazel eyes that sat next to her at this moment.

Ironic, no?

She broke the silence. "James," she began hesitantly, just above a whisper. "James, I..." But then Lily noticed that he did not seem to be able to hear her. In fact, he was getting to his feet.

"James?" Lily repeated, this time her tone one of confusion. He did not reply. "_James!_" she said again. He was crossing behind the desk that they had been leaning against, and as she too got to her feet, she saw him looking through the blinds out of the window.

"What're you doing, James?" she asked in wonder. He moved away from the window without a reply for the redhead, and swept past her towards the door. He pressed his ear against it for a moment, then shook his head and moved away from there.

"_James_," repeated Lily for what felt like the millionth time; the name was beginning to sound strange to her own ears. "_James_, what are you _doing_?" The Head Boy still maintained silence as he walked past Lily once more to behind the desk, where he opened all the drawers quickly.

"They're all empt... James, _what are you doing_?" He had climbed onto the surface of the desk and was examining the ceiling.

"I'm trying to keep us alive."

Lily folded her arms. "Through the ceiling?"

He got down from the desk. "Oh shut it."

For a moment, he stood still, thinking again, and then, he continued his examination of the room. He looked carefully at everything, feeling the wall with his fingers, knocking in certain places... Lily decided that the Head Boy must have gone insane.

"_James_," she said once more. "There's no way out... they made sure of that."

"I'm not going to die," was the only reply.

"Planning to knock the wall down, are you?"

"If I have to, why not?"

Lily looked at the clock. She sighed once again, and sat down on the edge of the office desk. "I have forty-seven minutes left to live," she said, more to herself than to James, "Forty-seven minutes, and I'm spending them _arguing _with _James Potter._"

James looked over his shoulder and said sarcastically: "If you're looking for a snog, the answer's an absolute 'no.'"

Lily shook her head, rolling her eyes, and allowing herself a bitter, wry smile. "I'm not going to fight with you, James."

James turned around again and made for the door; he listened at it once more and said: "For once in your life, yeah?"

"First and last time, I reckon," observed Lily, speaking as if half in a dream state. "And you can listen at doors and try to get out of this room as much as you like... you don't even have to listen to _me_ if you don't want to, but I'm going to tell you something." She now focused her eyes on the blank wall directly ahead of her, and therefore did not notice James's pause of half a second from where he now stood, searching a cabinet along the eastern wall.

"I'm sorry, alright?" Lily continued simply. "Mostly I'm sorry for what I said earlier in the forest. You're probably one of the bravest—albeit one of the _stupidest_—people I know. I've been stubborn and harsh and completely relentless in judging you. I mean, you used to be such a selfish, bullying, completely egocentric and entirely unendurable little_ snot _and all, but this year... even last year I noticed it, but I wouldn't let myself admit it... you haven't... well maybe you've just grown up a little, or maybe you fell out of love with yourself..." Lily smirked at the thought of the cocky fifteen year old James had been. "So sorry for thinking I was so much better than you are, and for always assuming... well, the worst possible thing about you. It wasn't fair to you, and I can't imagine what made me like that except that... James, I don't know what it _is _about you but something... something always makes me want to..." She searched her mind for words to articulate the thought: "...to sock you in the jaw, I guess. It's insane, I know, because when it comes down to it, I don't _hate_ you. I don't even know if I dislike you, Potter. It's been animosity and arguing with us for so long, but you've never been quite like any other enemy—you're not like Olivia Malfoy or someone, 'cause no matter how much I yell and scream at you and... and _get mad _or whatever... and no matter how much I act like I can't stand to be in your very presence, I don't... I don't hate you, Potter."

Lily paused. Her insides ached with an overwhelming emotion she could not explain. Nevertheless, she felt surprisingly okay for someone who was facing imminent death.

James said nothing for a moment. He was standing next to the cabinet, perfectly still. At length, he broke the silence. "Give me your shoe," he said.

Lily was consciously forcing herself not to blink, because if she did, inexplicable tears would free themselves from her eyes. She exhaled half laughingly. "_What_?"

"Your shoe," repeated James quietly, not facing her. "Can I have it for a second? I'd use mine, but it's a bitch to get back on."

The redhead shook her head and, suppressing unwanted emotions as well as she could, slid off the desk. For a moment, she was a complete loss for words. "Yes, James," she breathed finally, utterly bewildered; "You can have my... my shoe." She bent down and pulled off her left trainer. She walked, or rather limped, over towards James, and as she did so, said: "There's one last thing I need to apologize for, even thought I doubt very much you were paying attention to any of that. I'm sorry it took me till the last... forty three minutes of my life to say sorry." She reached him, and he turned to take the shoe from her hand.

"Er... thanks..." James muttered awkwardly. Lily nodded impassively and turned back towards the desk. She did not watch as he hit the wall as hard as he could with her shoe, then paused to see if it had any effect on the Death Eaters outside.

She sat down on the desktop again, and, when James was satisfied that no one was coming, he came and set the shoe next to her. Then, he went and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall opposite Lily.

They sat there in silence for a long time. James was restless, jumpy, and thoughtful, and Lily was unemotional and quiet. Neither head student moved. The minutes slipped by pitilessly without conversation and without action.

And then, at approximately twelve twenty (leaving some ten minutes till the death eaters were to return), James got up very suddenly. Lily watched, eyebrows arched, as he crossed very quickly to the other side of the room, behind the desk on which Lily sat. He ended at the window again, peering through the blinds and looking very thoughtful.

"James, what're you...?"

"_Shh!_"

Confused, Lily slid around to the other side of the desk. James was muttering to himself as if he was trying to work something out in his head. Lily watched him for a minute or so. She was about to interrupt his train of thought with another inquiry, when a look of comprehension dawned on his face. He looked at Lily as if he had never quite seen her.

"James, are you alright?"

James shushed her again. He leaned close and whispered so quietly that it was difficult for Lily to hear him at all: "_Scream_."

"_What_?"

"Scream!"James breathed again. "Just scream, okay?"

"Why?"

"_Lily_."

"Alright, alright." Sighing, Lily shut her eyes and, mustering her voice to its greatest extent, let out a loud, high-pitched, cinema-worthy scream. James jumped back and covered his ears until she was done. Then, he held up his hand to indicate silence, and Lily, rolling her eyes, complied. A few seconds passed before James's expression relaxed.

"Can I talk now?"

"I think so."

"They can't hear us, James. _Sound proof_. It seems like we've covered this topic."

"I was just making sure."

"Why, exactly?"

"Because I've got an idea."

"An idea," Lily repeated blankly. "Okay..."

"Alright, I'm gonna need... your jacket. Give me your jacket."

"My ja... okay... but... why are you always demanding articles of my clothing?" She unzipped the black jacket she was wearing and pulled it off, handing it to James. He took it, ignoring her question. The clock on the wall read 12:24.

Beginning with the sleeves, James wound the jacket around his arm, from just above his wrist, to the middle of his upper-arm, tucking in the last bit of loose material so that it would stay secure. Lily raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. She simply watched as James took the blinds in his hands and listened to the resulting screeching sound when he tore them in two. It was not James screeching, as Lily had immediately suspected, but rather the tweed blinds. He stuffed the upper half of the blinds between the wall and the curtain rod, and the bottom was left dangling from where it was magically secured to the sill.

It then occurred to Lily _why_ he needed her jacket.

"You're not going to...? _Merlin, _James. Be... be careful."

James acted as if he had not heard her at all. Hastily, he drew back his arms, intertwining his fingers and holding his fists high next to his ear farthest from the window. Lily winced and waited for the crash. It came, as James threw his arms forward and his elbows made contact with the glass window. Though she had been expecting it, Lily jumped slightly. Recovering, she hurried over to where James was knocking a few panes of glass out of the frame.

"You're bleeding," Lily observed, seeing that a shard of glass had cut through his upper sleeve where the jacket did not cover.

"Never mind it," James insisted dismissively. The faux starlight was now gone, and there was only indefinite, infinite darkness outside; the room seemed a bit colder as well. James unraveled the jacket from his arm and handed it back to Lily, not even watching to see whether she took it. Then, started examining the broken glass. A particularly large, jagged, and sharp piece was a very little bit bloodstained, and it was this portion that James, with great delicacy, removed.

He examined the glass for a moment longer, then set it down on the desk, looking very thoughtful. Lily watched as he began to murmur to himself again.

"Okay," he said at length, in a normal tone. "I'm going to stand just over there, and when the death eaters come in..."

"That's not going to work," said Lily at once, and it was not merely for argument's sake. "They'll expect something. They'll expect us to be desperate to escape."

"You're right," the other conceded. "I'll have to divert them somehow too."

Lily sent him a supercilious look. "There are _two_ of us, you know."

"Well, right, but..."

"What do you need done?"

James still appeared hesitant. "It'll be pretty dangerous..."

"Stop being ridiculous."

"I'm serious. Even if you succeed as a diversion, you might get killed in the..."

"I said stop being ridiculous! I can bloody well handle it, and you know it."

"But..."

But whatever James had to say, Lily did not have the patience for it. So she slapped him. Recoiling at the startling interruption, James allowed Lily a moment to speak.

"You're saying I can't do this diversion because it's dangerous, but if I don't and you're caught, we're both dead anyway. It's not as if I'll be perfectly safe without doing this... whatever it is... so stop being protective and tell me what you need done."

James seemed to see the reason in this, or perhaps he was just a little frightened of Lily at the moment, and he gave in. "Alright. You should probably be here, or by the window anyway, because from the door, that's probably the first thing they'll spot. I reckon they'll open the door before they come in, so they'll see you and _hopefully_ come further into the room. You'll need to be doing something that will catch their attention..." Lily raised her eyebrows. "Not _that_ type of something..."

"Alright, alright. I'll... I'll be breaking the window more—it'll look like I'm trying to escape. But what if they notice you're offstage?"

"Got any better ideas?"

Lily thought. "Sadly, no."

"Alright then." They stood in silence then, looking at each other awkwardly and yet decidedly.

After a moment, Lily broke the silence with a somewhat uncomfortable: "We should get ready—they'll be here any minute."

James agreed with a short nod. Lily was turning to face the window, however, when he caught her arm and stopped her. She looked at him curiously, eyebrows raised, but then, much to Lily's unadulterated surprise (and probably James's as well), he bent down and kissed her.

It was not quite a normal kiss, because it was neither on the cheek nor on the lips, but rather on the corner of her mouth, so that Lily supposed that he could not make up his mind which to do and had ended up with a last-minute compromise. It was also very quick, but when he pulled away a moment later, Lily felt dazed nonetheless.

"Good luck," he said, as if nothing had happened at all.

"You as well," she murmured in reply, unable to maintain the steadiness that he had so expertly conveyed.

"Alright, then." He turned quickly and walked around the desk, across the room, and to the doorway, standing along the wall to the right of the door itself, so that it would open in front of him.

Lily, meanwhile, raised her hand so that it was over one of the sharp edges of a glass still secure in the window and very carefully lowered her palm so that the glass pierced her skin.

"What the hell are you doing?" James asked in surprise.

"I'm making it look realistic. Blood catches peoples' attention."

"But..."

"Shut up, James." Blood began to seep out of her palm, and Lily withdrew it from the pointed glass. She applied some pressure on her hand so that she bled a little more. Then, wincing ever so slightly, she rubbed her hands together, spreading the blood about and making it more noticeable.

"Remind me never to leave you alone with a razor blade," James muttered, shaking his head.

"Duly noted."

They waited for a minute or so in silence, and the waiting was the worst of all. Lily almost wished the death eaters would come in so that this could all end—one way or the other. Part of her realized that if this plan (such as it was) did work out, there were death eaters out in the corridor, and even if they did escape the room alive, there was still the rest of the floor to survive. She pushed these thoughts aside quickly. They would cross that bridge when they came to it.

All thoughts were interrupted when the doorknob creaked and Lily saw it begin to turn. Her eyes met with James for half a moment, exchanging "here goes nothing" sort of looks, and the door was pushed open a moment later. It flew open with such force that it (probably by specific design) hit against the back of the wall behind it, and James only just moved out of the way in time to avoid being hit and discovered. As a result, the door bounced forward again, just enough so that James could slip back behind its cover.

If Lily had been watching the scene, meanwhile, she would have seen that no one immediately entered through the doorway. If she had been watching, she would have seen that after a moment, a death eater did appear, wand raised and ready, as he looked prepared for just about anything that came. Lily was not watching. She was facing the window.

The second the door had opened, she had begun to hit the glass as if trying to break it, despite the fact that it was already broken. Her hands were genuinely bleeding now, and she wished she had used the jacket as James had. The first death eater (there were a few more standing further back) took another step into the room and shouted a vague order to move away from the window as well as a demand about where James was, but Lily comprehended neither.

She had an uncertain consciousness of screaming "No!" repeatedly in reply as she continued to break the glass, but it was not really an intentional effort.

"Step back!" the death eater (Harris, Lily noted) shouted again over her cries, and as he did so, a jet of bright orange light was sent from the tip of his wand towards the Head Girl, who was very nearly hit. She managed, however, to duck under the desk in front of her just before the curse made contact with her head.

Harris took another step into the room, making him visible to where James waited between the door and the wall. James seized the opportunity. Mustering his strength, he pushed the door forward. It did not hit Harris, as he was standing far enough into the room, but it did make contact with another death eater standing behind him, and James's adrenaline ruled strength combined with the unexpected nature of the attack allowed him to dominate the situation.

Exactly what transpired next was difficult to register, even for Lily, who was peering over the top of the desk; the whole thing happened so quickly. At the same moment James got the door closed, leveraging his weight against it, he jabbed the jagged glass into Harris's side, thrusting it upwards. Harris gasped in pain, but tried desperately to turn to face his assailant. James was too quick. He grabbed the wand from Harris's slackened grip, and pushed the death eater down.

Not missing a beat, James turned on the door, still holding it shut with one arm. There was the sound of hexes attempting to take it down from the outside, but the spells that Korcesh had undoubtedly placed on it for his own protection were now working against them. James did not have the same problem. In one movement, he released his own hold on the door and, with the wand pointed at the door, shouted, "Bombarda!"

The door flew backwards, pushing whatever stood in its way back with it, as well as part of the wall. James did not wait for the dust to clear. He sent a number of hexes towards where the door had fallen. He was about to call for Lily to "come on," when a cry of pain from somewhere behind him caused him to turn around hastily.

It was not Lily who had cried out, however, but Harris. As James turned to see what had happened, Harris, who had somehow gotten to his knees, fell to the floor once again in a heap. Lily was standing over him. It took a moment for James to register the fact that the death eater had been attempting to exact revenge on him, and that Lily had made use of another sharp edged windowpane. Blood poured out of the death eater's neck. Lily took the opportunity of James's momentary surprise to steal his line.

"Come on."

James nodded quickly and pushed forward out of the room, jumping over the fallen door and rubble, with Lily right behind him.

Most of the death eaters in the corridor seemed to have been involved in the would-be execution of Lily and James, but a few from other areas of the floor were now appearing around the end of the hall. James was rather in an _attack first, ask questions later_ mood. He immediately shot two hexes at the death eaters with Harris's wand, and though the first one missed all together, the second hit one of the three presumable death eaters.

There was an immediate retaliation, and while with one arm James pushed Lily back against the wall, he used the other to perform a shield charm. He was a moment too late, and one of the hexes hit Lily square in the shoulder.

She gasped in pain, but when James turned to see if she was alright she shouted, "_NO_! _The death eaters_!"

James wheeled around and shot six or seven spells out of the wand at the advancing death eaters, but did not wait to see if he had hit any of them. Instead, guiding Lily carefully, he began to run in the opposite direction, back towards Korcesh's office. Lily kept up fairly well, despite her shoulder, which was growing numb, and they made it to the opposite end of the corridor without much difficulty. There were no death eaters here, though neither student could begin to speculate as to why.

The corridor curved to another area of the floor, but there was also a stairwell for those whose preference was not the lift, and it was the latter which Lily and James pursued. James was about to take the descending stair, but Lily stopped him.

"_No_! We're underground—we have to go up!"

This was, of course, logical, and they instead began to hurry upwards. They had barely taken three steps, however, before there were sounds from the lower stair. They looked down, and the movement of a few figures ascending the steps some two flights below was visible. James did not attack. The two students were far too busy sprinting upward.

Lily's shoulder was no longer numb, but it felt as if it was on fire, and the pain was spreading to her upper arm. She bit her lip and said nothing.

They came to a landing and there was door, bearing a large, black "1." It was locked. James did not particularly care, and the clambering footsteps below grew louder.

"_Bombarda!_"

The door blasted open, though the spell did less damage than it had upstairs. Lily and James waited only a moment so that they would not be hit by any rubble, before running into the open.

They were in a large, round room. It was stylishly furnished and rather showy, with several corridor branching off at various places about the circumference. They were standing there for only a moment, when a witch appeared from one of the corridors. She had curly blonde hair, and noticeably started when she saw Lily and James only a few feet away. James was on her long before she had time to draw her wand.

"Where is the Minister of Magic's office?" he demanded at once, wand raised and pointed at the witch's throat.

"E-excuse me?"

"The Minister of Magic."

Lily looked at the Head Boy with uncertainty. "James, what are you...?"

James completely ignored her. "Where is the Minister's office?" he asked fiercely.

The witch remained stoically silent.

"_James..._" began Lily again, but James interrupted her.

"Stupefy." The witch passed out. "_Sorry_," he added, a little guiltily.

Lily looked at him. "I don't think she was a death eater, Potter."

"I know she wasn't," James agreed. "But she'd slow us down. C'mon." He waved for Lily to follow him. She complied reluctantly as he led the way to the first of the corridors in the room. He did not immediately rush down the corridor, however, but somewhat hesitantly stepped over the threshold, as if waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.

"C'mon," he directed again. He moved to the next of the corridors, and repeated his odd behavior to the same results. Again, he hurried to the third corridor, and then to the fourth, and as they approached the fifth, Lily heard footsteps from the stairway.

"They're coming."

James said nothing. Instead, he stepped forward to cross the threshold of the fifth corridor. He stopped suddenly, however, and Lily sent him an anxious look.

"This is it."

"This is _what_?"

Again, James did not reply. In fact, he did the thing that seemed to make the least sense at the moment. He threw the death eater's wand he had procured several floors below across the room. Then, he hurried through the archway, followed by a thoroughly confused Lily. He was sprinting, and Lily struggled to keep up.

"How's your shoulder?" James asked, noticing that she clutched at it.

"Oh... fine," lied Lily; she tried to ignore the now sharp stinging that had spread through all of her arm, shoulder, and was beginning on her upper back.

"You sure?"

Lily chose to disregard this. "Where are we going? And why did you throw the wand away?"

"'Had to. You can't get down this corridor with a wand unless you're one of the Minister's personal guards. As I'm not one, and I don't think you are, I had to throw it."

"O-Oh." There was a pause; breathing was becoming difficult. "Where are we going now?"

James turned down one of the off-shooting corridors. "Well... I'm not entirely sure."

Lily stopped running. "_What_?"

"Just c'mon!" Reluctant, but seeing no other option, Lily again complied. "I've been here before," James explained at length. "That's how I knew the wand thing, but... well... it's been a while."

"How long?"

"Er... well... about... ten years... maybe."

"_Nice_."

"Yeah." James led Lily through a rather insignificant door on the left, which gave way yet another lengthy corridor. "There it is—that's the office." He pointed to the last door. "...If I remember correctly," he added uncertainly. "And I'm not really sure I do. At all."

Lily squinted through the dark. "James, there are a handful of wizards in black standing in front of it."

"Then I'm a little more certain of it."

Lily was not quite sure if she was missing something obvious, but she could not for the life of her figure out how James could be so certain that the Minister was there. She said nothing, however, partially because she thought she really might have been missing something, and partially because the pain in her shoulder and arm was growing worse by the second.

They were coming into earshot of the three wizards, who now seemed to notice that they were not alone in the corridor. "Stay back," one ordered, raising his wand. There was a shining badge on his chest that indicated he was a hit-wizard.

"Listen, my name is James Potter," James called to the wizards.

"That's fine, James Potter," the wizard retorted; "but you'll still stay back."

"We need to see..."

"What are you doing here? It's _way_ after visiting hours."

"Trust me—we didn't come on our own free will. There are _death eaters_ downstairs. We were taken here by force, alright? We need to see Albus Dumbledore."

Lily appeared as disbelieving as the other wizards.

"I don't know where you're getting your information, boy, but..."

"Don't give me that shit," snapped James, his voice incredibly confident. "He's here. He's been in conference with the Minister of Magic for hours, and he hasn't received any visitors, owls, or otherwise, has he? If he had, he would have known about what's happened at the school."

"James," Lily whispered, "how do you know...?"

"Listen," James went on, as if he had not heard Lily at all; "we're a couple of students. We wouldn't be able to take any of you on anyway. There really are death eaters downstairs, though, and we've got to see Dumbledore before they escape. Would just _one_ of you go in there and get him. Tell him... tell him James Potter and Lily Evans are here. _Please_."

"Stent," muttered one of the other wizards, a tall, black man. "The security level _was_ just raised..."

"We don't know if they're death eaters or not."

"No, but they're unarmed, or they wouldn't have been able to get here. I am going to get Albus Dumbledore."

"_Kingsley_," said another. "It's not..." But Kingsley had already turned and entered the room.

"You said the security level's been raised?" Lily asked, grasping tightly at her shoulder. "Are there aurors being called?" Neither of the remaining wizards replied. "Well you don't have to answer me, but you should call more wizards down there quickly, before everyone there escapes."

"We don't need your advice, girl," snapped the man addressed as Stent. "And if you _are_ a death eater, you may be interested to hear that the Minister is in the process of evacuating the building. You won't get him."

Lily could not really blame the wizard for feeling a bit defensive, so she thought it best to keep some sort of silence. A minute or so passed and not without many anxious glances over the shoulder on the part of Lily and James, but no one disturbed the almost absolute silence in the corridor.

Kingsley returned presently, and beckoned Lily and James closer. They complied readily, and as he ushered them into the room, he spoke rapidly to his companions.

"Stent—alert Cross and Gael. Tell them to contact the rest of their teams immediately. Chester, get as many hit-wizards here as soon as possible. Donlevy's down the hall—he'll do security here with me. Raise security two levels. Inside, you two." He directed this last part towards the Head Boy and Girl.

Lily and James entered the room. It was not the Minister's office, but an antechamber.

"Oh," Lily added, turning quickly to Kingsley. "There's a blonde witch passed out in the chamber out there. It's a long story."

Kingsley nodded and shut the door behind the two students. They walked uncertainly further inside, but had only a moment to wait. Then, the door on the opposite wall opened, admitting the figure of Albus Dumbledore. Lily was torn between laughing and crying with relief (she ended up doing neither, as too much movement hurt her shoulder something terrible). Dumbledore's expression, however, was far more serious.

"Sit down," he said in a rapid, though not unkind tone, which in essence demanded obedience. The usual twinkle that lit his blue eyes had gone out entirely. Lily and James sat down on a bench along the wall at once. "What has happened at Hogwarts?" Dumbledore pressed seriously.

It seemed odd to be interrogated about that. The events in Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest seemed years old.

"Praedam was killed," James replied, almost immediately. "Silth did it. He was hired by Korcesh to steal something from Hogwarts."

"Gilbert Korcesh," Lily elaborated. "He's a death eater—he's been one all along. The... the attack on the Hogwarts Express and Hogsmeade back in September was a ploy to keep him at Hogwarts."

"We were sort of... taken by the death eaters," continued James. "We escaped but... they got us again and apparated us from the clearing in the forest to Korcesh's office downstairs. When the building was guaranteed clear, they were going to kill us, but we managed to escape and get here."

"You knew I was here?"

"Er... Korcesh told me."

"Korcesh?"

"I was in the village tonight," James elaborated smoothly; he was not particularly worried about the consequences of sneaking out of the castle at the moment. "I saw Praedam and Silth meet in the Three Broomsticks and followed them. They were at Hogwarts to steal something, only Silth had another job too. He was going to steal something for Korcesh—it didn't seem like there was any clear idea of _what_ they were supposed to steal. Silth... well, he killed Praedam, and I went to get help, but I ran into Korcesh."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "Rosmerta must have summoned him. She had instructions to inform me immediately if she should see Praedam meet with anyone from the staff, but as I was gone, she must have notified the Ministry instead. But I interrupt... continue, James."

"There's not much more beyond what I've told you."

"Is the school secure?"

"It was when we were there last," said Lily uncertainly. "It was swarmed with aurors. How did no one contact you?"

Dumbledore sighed wearily. "I was in closed council. No one is to disturb the Minister of Magic when he is in closed council. Kingsley took a great risk in doing so. He thought it might be too late should we leave before I heard you speak. Now, were any students harmed at Hogwarts?"

"No," said Lily at once. "I don't think so."

Dumbledore's white eyebrows lifted, and for a moment, Lily thought she saw something of the old twinkle in his blue eyes. "The two of you are students," he noted.

"We're fine," Lily said at once.

"You're not," James pointed out. "She got hit in the shoulder with a curse downstairs and..."

Dumbledore's eyes fixed on Lily. "You do not look well," he stated, as if he had not really seen her till now. As he spoke, she began to feel dizzy. "I will get you medical attention immediately," Dumbledore went on very seriously. "You must both stay here, and stay safe. You have no wands, I presume..."

They shook their heads, and Dumbledore, shaking his own head, muttered something that sounded vaguely like "miraculous." "Very well," he continued, in a normal tone. "Stay here. I will return presently."

Dumbledore walked hastily out into the corridor, shutting the door behind him. Lily and James were left alone. Lily closed her eyes, wanting to shut out the growing pain. It was increasing by the minute, and she glanced down at the hole in her shirt. The skin visible through the tear was black.

"Are you alright?" James murmured.

She nodded, not able to bring herself to say anything more. Energy seemed to be draining from her with every moment that passed.

Dumbledore returned a moment later with the curly haired blonde witch of earlier, now fully recovered. She did not seem to bear any ill-will towards Lily and James, but rather approached the former at once and began to investigate her shoulder.

"How does it feel?" she asked hastily, kneeling down beside her.

"Bad," murmured the Head Girl, "like it's been stabbed."

"And has it felt like that all along?"

Lily shook her head. "No, it... it was numb at first, and then was burning before, and then it sort of ached..." She winced as the pain heightened.

"Is the pain spreading?"

She nodded.

"How far?"

"My whole arm and... p-part of my back."

"Okay," continued the witch. "Okay, this will need to be treated right now. I'll need some potions, though. Are the lower levels secure enough to get there?"

"It is unlikely," said Dumbledore simply.

"St. Mungo's will take too long... what about the Hogwarts potions store?"

Dumbledore looked at Lily and James questioningly. "There shouldn't be any reason you can't get in," the latter replied. "The death eaters didn't seem like they were planning on sticking around."

"I'll go," said the witch, getting up.

"No," said Dumbledore. "No, you will stay with Lily to help her should the situation call for it. I shall play errand boy." He gave a small bow. "What is it you require?"

The witch crossed to the desk near the door to the Minister's office and picked up a scrap of parchment and quill. She dipped the quill into an inkwell and began to scribble something on the parchment. When she was done, she handed the paper to Dumbledore. "Hopefully Horace will have all of that in stock."

"Very well."

Dumbledore folded the parchment between his long fingers and then left the room. The blonde-haired witch resumed her kneeling position near Lily, continuing to examine her shoulder.

"Try and sit back then... 'Lily', was it? Well, Lily, sit back. Breathe slowly—in and out, that's right. Stay with me, alright? The most important thing is to stay conscious and calm until the Headmaster returns with the things we need."

Lily simply nodded.

"My name is Beatrice Clag. I work for the Minister. You should be talking, Lily. Tell me about yourself—say anything that pops into your head, just keep talking."

"I'm L-Lily Evans," breathed Lily unsteadily. "I g-g-go to Hogwarts."

"What year are you, Lily?"

"I'm a... seventh year."

"That's lovely. Were you a prefect?"

"Y-yeah. And Head Girl."

"Oh, that's just fine. What house are you in?"

"Gryff—Gryffindor."

"Excellent house. My own, in fact. What's your favorite class, Lily?"

"It's... It's..."

"Your favorite class, Lily. What's your favorite class in school? Concentrate, now."

"C-Charms. It's Charms c-c-c-class."

"Are you getting cold?"

Lily shook her head.

"Good. Alright, keep talking. Tell me about Charms."

"It's... it's my... m-my favorite class," she exhaled with difficulty. "Professor Flit-Flitwick t-teach...teaches it. I usu—usually s-sit near m-my friend Al—Alice in that... class."

"Lovely. Tell me about Alice."

"She... she's Gryffindor. H-h-hate her b-boy...boyfriend... com-complete slag. But she's... she's ver... she's very sweet."

For a moment, Beatrice smiled a little. "What house is Alice's boyfriend in?"

"Huff... no, Raven—Ravenclaw."

"Confusion. Damn it. Alright, you—er... James?" James nodded. "James, keep talking to her. Do anything to keep her going... if she starts mixing up her facts, don't correct her; just _keep her talking_. If she says she's getting cold, then come and get me immediately. Do you understand? If she's getting cold, it's _very_ important you get me. I'll be back in one second—I need to see the Minister. Hopefully it won't take long. Can you do this for me?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Lily," Beatrice continued. "James is going to talk to you. Talk to James. Tell James... tell James what you're going to do when you're finished with school." She got up and hastened into the Minister's office, and Lily began to speak in unsteady, breathless words.

"W-when I'm d-d-done with... when I'm d-d-done with... with school, w-with Hog—Hogwarts. I want... I want to... I want to work at..." She broke off, gasping for breath as if she had just finished running the length of several Quidditch pitches.

"Where do you want to work, Lily?" James asked. "_Where_?"

"At... at the M-M-Ministry. In IC."

"IC?"

"Inter—International Co... Cooperation."

"I see. Well... er..." James searched his head for a question, and Lily began to grow limp. "No! No! Lily, c'mon! Stay awake!" he called loudly, shaking her gently. "Er... what's... what's your... favorite... _color_?"

Despite her nearly unconscious state, Lily managed a breathy sort of laugh. "My favorite c-c-color? What—what kind of idiot question is... is that?"

"Just answer the damn question, Red."

"Green," Lily murmured. "I like green."

"Green's... nice. Not as good as red, but..."

"Red—Red's good too."

Her head began to loll unsteadily, and James propped it up against the wall. She groaned in pain. "Let me sleep," she whispered. "Please, just..."

"No, Lily, I _can't_. C'mon. Stay awake, now. Beatrice will be back soon. So... so what... who... er... are you... do you have a boyfriend now?"

Lily shook her head, moaning in pain. "E-E-Elijah and I b-broke up at the—the New Year." James already knew this, of course, but he nodded as if it was new information. "And... there's not anyone else? Secret love affairs or anything?"

"Not at... not at the mo—moment, no. Although..." She broke off, groaning and trying to rub her shoulder. "Oh, it hurts. Let me sleep, James. Let me stop it, please, I..."

"_No_, Lily," James stated firmly. "Keep going. Although _what_?"

"What?"

"You said 'although.'"

"Oh, I... I don't know, I..."

"Stay here, Lily. You've got this, alright. Where the hell is _she_?" He looked at the door through which Beatrice had exited, but it remained closed. "Alright, so... _'Although._' Er... what does that mean? Someone—someone you fancy?"

"I... what? No. I don't... I don't know."

"C'mon, Red. Who is it? Tell me all about it."

"I... I don't..."

"You're chicken, aren't you? Who is it? Is it... er... Peter?"

"_Potter_."

"Er... Snape?"

Lily smiled a little, shaking her head.

"That scrawny fourth year that follows you around?"

She giggled vaguely.

"Oh, I've got it—Slughorn. You've got a mad thing for Ol' Sluggy, don't you?"

She giggled again, and looked about to reply, when suddenly her expression changed to a pained one. "Oh, Merlin. When—when did it get so cold?"

James sobered up immediately. "You're cold? Oh, my God. Er..." He got to his feet and was halfway to the door to the Minister's office, when the door opened, admitting Beatrice. Seeing James up, she arched her thin, blond eyebrows questioningly.

"She said she was cold!"

Beatrice was at Lily's side a moment later, and James resumed his seat next to the redhead, who was now shivering.

"Lay her down," the witch instructed, and James helped her complete the task. Now outstretched on the small bench, Lily's eyes began to flutter. "Rub her arms," Beatrice ordered to James. "Do anything to keep them warm. Especially her left..."

James nodded and began to massage the Head Girl's arms. Her eyelids ceased their movement, but her breathing grew fainter. Beatrice bent over to listen to her heartbeat. "Still beating... alright, move over a bit, James. Thanks." She drew her wand and pressed it against Lily's chest. She muttered something, and after a moment, Lily's breathing grew a little more audible.

"Keep rubbing her arms," Beatrice commanded, inexplicably calm. James nodded and forced himself not to look at Lily's pale face. A moment later, the door to the outer corridor opened, and Dumbledore stepped inside. "Thank God," Beatrice whispered. "You have everything?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I do." He pulled out several vials of varying liquids from pockets in his great purple robes. Lastly, he provided two empty vials from an outer pocket. Beatrice took all of these and set them on the desk. She read the labels on each hastily, then picked up one of the larger ones, which contained a thick, syrupy amber liquid, and poured about half of the contents into one of the empty vials. She picked up another vial, the smallest one there and, uncorking it, smelled the frothy brown potion inside.

"Damn it. This is too aged... Slughorn didn't have any more of these?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "We thought that that might have been a problem, but it was the only of that potion he had prepared."

Beatrice nodded. She picked up a vial of inky black liquid, and poured the slightest amount into the vial with the amber potion. She waited, and the black liquid quickly seemed to disperse throughout the vial.

"Her breathing's slowing again," James said, rubbing Lily's arms more fervently.

Beatrice said nothing, but shook the black and amber mix a little, before carrying it over to where Lily lay, barely conscious. She poured a little bit of the liquid into her own hand and then, pushing the neckline of Lily's tee a little lower, rubbed a little bit over the Head Girl's heart. She repeated the action on the wound itself, and then all over her shoulder.

"Will you bring me the vial of purple potion from the desk, James?" Beatrice asked in a serious but composed tone, rubbing the liquid on the side of Lily's neck.

James quickly got up and brought back the appropriate potion. Beatrice took it and added a little of it to the other concoction. They simmered as they came in contact, but after a moment, calmed and began to mix. Beatrice shook the vial lightly, then, opening Lily's mouth with one hand, poured the potion down her throat with the other.

Dumbledore and James watched silently, for there was little else to do. At length, Lily opened her eyes again, and James thought that he saw a hint of color creep into her cheeks.

"The potions are beginning to work," Beatrice explained in a hushed tone. "Will one of you bring me the brown potion from the desk?"

James immediately located the half-empty vial she had used earlier. Beatrice took it and uncorked it. "Lily?" she murmured, gently slapping Lily's cheek. "How are you?"

"It hurts," the Head Girl muttered, trying to sit up.

"Not yet," Beatrice cut in, guiding her down again. "Drink this. It should help with the pain."

Lily lay back again, except for her head, which she kept high enough to drink from the potion vial. She winced as she swallowed the drink, which was hardly butterbeer, and then laid her head back.

"How is it?" Beatrice asked tentatively after short but tense silence.

"Better," replied Lily.

"Really?"

"Mhm."

"Then you two can take it from here," Beatrice said with a nod towards Dumbledore and James. "I've got to stay with Minister."

"No," said Dumbledore quickly. "No, I must speak with him first. Can Miss Evans apparate?"

"Absolutely not."

"Then will you be so kind as to stay with James and Lily just a few minutes longer?" His voice simultaneously communicated a politeness, but also a forcefulness that could not be denied.

"Well... alright," Beatrice replied reluctantly. "But please, Sir..."

"I will act as quickly as I possibly can."

"Thank-you."

Dumbledore crossed the room towards the door to the Minister's office, then disappeared inside. Beatrice looked down at Lily. "It should be alright if you sit up now."

Lily nodded and pushed herself so that she could lean against the wall.

"Is she healed?" James asked dubiously.

"No," admitted the other. "No, far from it. I've only given her a temporary antidote, but the note I sent with Dumbledore had some instructions, and Horace Slughorn will be preparing some more... permanent potions. But what she's got should slow the pain and the spread of the curse for a few hours."

"How do you know so much about potions?" Lily breathed, eyes wide. "Are you a healer?"

Beatrice smiled slightly. "Sort of. It's... it's part of my job to know a lot about a lot things."

Lily was about to inquire as to what exactly that job was, but James interrupted her. "You're his guard, aren't you? The Minister's... you're the sentinel."

This time, Beatrice really did smile. "You know about the sentinel? What... what did you say your name was?"

"James. James Potter."

"Well that would explain it. I wondered... I'm... er... I'm not used to be knocked out."

"Yeah. Er... sorry about that."

"Oh, I don't hold it against you. It's... it's more surprising than anything else." Beatrice focused her attention on Lily again. "How are you feeling now?"

"Better," the Head Girl said decidedly. "A lot better. Thanks for everything."

"Not at all... besides, I had a lovely time interrogating you. 'Learned lots." The vaguely uncomfortable silence that followed was fortunately interrupted by Dumbledore's reentrance. Beatrice straightened up immediately and gave the Headmaster a questioning look.

"You may go in now," he stated simply. She hurried past him, and he came to sit down on the small bench next to Lily. "How are you?"

"Better," said Lily, for what felt like the thousandth time.

"Good. The aurors are downstairs now—I received word while with the Minister from one of the aurors—a Mr. Cross, I believe, that they have not found any death eaters yet, however." James opened his mouth to protest this statement, but Dumbledore held up his hand to silence him. "No, no, dear boy, do not believe that I mean this as evidence against you—that you have related to us some falsehood. On the contrary, it was to be expected. Once you were safe, the death eaters would want to flee as soon as possible. And, I am afraid I erred in saying that no death eaters whatsoever had been recovered. What should have been said was simply that no _living_ death eaters had been recovered. There was a wizard..."

"Harris," Lily interrupted causing both of her companions to turn their attention toward her.

"They have not yet identified him," Dumbledore said with a small nod. "But he was wounded with some sort of sharp object..."

"It was glass," James stated, not meeting the Professor's eye. "Two wounds—one in the side, the other in the neck. It was glass—two shards from the window."

"A death eater?"

Lily and James both nodded.

"He interrogated me in the clearing earlier... he was going to be our executioner."

"You escaped," Dumbledore murmured in something between a question and a statement.

"James hid behind the door," Lily agreed listlessly, gingerly rubbing her shoulder. "I made a diversion by the window... when the death eater—he went by 'Harris', but God knows if that's his real name—came far enough into the room, James managed to keep the other death eaters out of the room and disable Harris. Later, he tried to get James back, but I got him with another piece of glass from the window."

There was a strange look of understanding—empathy, really—in Dumbledore's blue eyes as he nodded. "I rather wish that I could return you to the school," he said, the words marked with sincerity. "However, I do not know that you are much safer there as here, and the Minister wishes you remain here until someone can extract your memories for the investigation. If you were to have any strong objections to remaining here, however..." he trailed off suggestively.

"It's alright," the two students stated in apathetic unison. James added: "Last time we didn't get our memories recorded in time, they were missing the next morning."

"I believe that is the Minster's mindset as well," Dumbledore agreed sagely. He watched the pair of them carefully for a moment, before continuing: "Now, if you have no other need at present, I am afraid I must leave you alone for a time. There is much I have to attend to."

"Yes, sir."

"Of course, Professor."

Dumbledore stood and exited to the outer corridor with a sweep of his great purple robes. With a sigh, Lily leaned back against the wall behind her, and shut her eyes.

"Not to sound repetitive or anything," James began, leaning forward and rubbing his eyes wearily; "but how are you feeling?"

"Not to sound repetitive or anything, but better."

"That's good."

"Mhm."

Silence settled for a short time. At length, Lily began to feel awake enough to start a proper strain of conversation. "When we first got here," she began, glad to be voicing the question that had irked her at the time; "how did you know that the Minister and Dumbledore were still here? How did you know that the Minister hadn't gone home and that Dumbledore wasn't summoned back to the castle?"

James did not meet Lily's eyes, but rather suddenly seemed to find his fingernail immensely fascinating. "Well, I... I suppose I guessed. I didn't really _know_ but... I just... I was just sure I was right. And then when I saw her... when I saw Beatrice, I thought that she must be the sentinel, and that would _prove_ the Minister was here."

"That's another thing," Lily added, straightening up a little. "What was all that 'sentinel' business about?"

"The sentinel is the Minister's personal guard. It's a witch or wizard assigned to eat, sleep, breath, and live for the Minister as long as he or she has the job... it's really strenuous. They live in the Minister's house and go everywhere with him... but no one is really supposed to know who exactly the sentinel at any given time is. It's supposed to be the last person you'd expect—not the big, bulky chaps, but the short, skinny ones, or the pretty little witch."

"How do _you_ know all this?"

"My Mum was the sentinel for Minister Vance about thirty years ago. That's how she got to know my dad... he was an auror."

Lily nodded. "But how did you know Beatrice was the sentinel then?"

"Well," James began thoughtfully. "I thought if the Minister was here, then the sentinel must have been nearby... that's why I was quick to stupefy her. If I waited much longer I'm sure she would have had the both of us out. The sentinel's are more than averagely well-trained."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "James, that doesn't make sense... you knew the Minister was here because the sentinel was here, but you knew Beatrice was the sentinel because you thought the Minister was. One idea completely relies on the other..."

James thought about it for a minute. "You're right. It doesn't make sense. Good thing I didn't think about it that way at the time."

Lily stared incredulously at James. "You are the goddamned luckiest person I know."

James grinned a little. "Cheers."

They sat there for some time in silence. It was not an awkward silence. It was not an uncomfortable silence. It was not an annoyed, boring, tedious, tense, or anticipatory silence. It was just silence, and somehow, it felt alright. About an hour passed in this manner with little or no change, except for the occasional interruption into the room of Dumbledore or Beatrice, but both always seemed exceptionally busy, and no one spoke.

Towards the end of the hour, however, Beatrice entered the room from the Minister's office with a piteous expression.

"How are you all?" she asked, coming over to the Head Boy and Girl.

"Alright," the two deadpanned simultaneously.

"I'm glad. We've just received word from the aurors downstairs—the building's secure."

"That's good."

"It is. So you both are doing better? Can I get you anything? Water? Butterbeer?"

"Water would be wonderful," Lily muttered, but James shook his head gruffly, mumbling something that may have been "No, thank-you." Beatrice nodded and drew her wand. With a quick wave, a goblet of water appeared in her hands, and she passed it over to Lily, who took it gratefully. "And if you want to go to sleep now, Lily, it should be perfectly fine."

Lily nodded vaguely and took a drink of water. When Beatrice had left them alone again, and Lily held up the goblet and said: "Have some water, James."

James shook his head. "No, thanks, I'm fine."

This incensed Lily. What possible right did he have to be fine? "You're not fine. You're tired and you're probably hungry and thirsty, so have a drink."

James leaned back against the wall. "No thanks, Lily," he repeated. "I don't want any."

"James..."

"I don't want any."

"James, just..."

"I told you..."

"But, James..."

"I'm really not in the mood..."

"Drink the damn water, James!" ordered Lily, growing hysterical.

James looked at her at her and then grabbed the goblet hastily. Lily sighed and leaned forward, calming down a bit. He took a drink of the water.

"I'm sorry... here..." She held out her hand for the goblet, but James set it on the floor instead.

"Hey, it's okay." He pulled her back so that she could lean more comfortably against the wall. "You're alright, right? Everything's alright?"

"I'm sorry," Lily repeated. "This is just..." she half-laughed, "a _really_ bad day."

"Well, I've had better," agreed the Head Boy.

"I'm so tired," she sighed. "I'm not usually like this, you know. It's just with everything that's happened, I..." Lily broke off and looked up at James. "How are _you_? You've... well, you've had as bad a day as I have."

"Yeah, it... it definitely wasn't my best."

Lily smiled weakly and shook her head. "Me either. But... um... in case I forget later on... thank you." James looked at her curiously. "For everything—saving my life a thousand and one times... getting us out of that room alive... putting up with me... everything. Especially the saving my life part..."

"Oh... well. You're welcome." And then, because he thought the mood might be getting too serious, he added: "I mean, everyone makes mistakes, right?"

Lily rolled her eyes feebly. "I would hit you if I had the energy, you git," she yawned. "Oh Merlin, I'm tired."

"Why don't you sleep? Dumbledore could be ages in there..."

"In here? No, thanks. Anyway, it's not that bad... I just like to..." she stifled a yawn... "just like to complain, is all..."

"Seriously, Red... you're dead. Anyone could tell."

"There's no where to sleep, I..."

"Just be quiet, okay?" He pulled her head over so that it rested on his shoulder, disregarding her half-hearted, half-asleep protests. Her eyelids fluttered as she tried to keep them open, causing James to grin. She was fighting a losing battle. Soon, she had drifted off to sleep. The Head Boy watched her thoughtfully.

She was a pretty sleeper. She wasn't drooling on his shirt or snoring loudly, anyway. It was amazing to him how someone whose hair was a mess, whose face was dirty, and who was so clearly exhausted could possibly still look... good. Lily managed it rather expertly.

He looked away to the wall opposite him. Out of the corner of his eye he could still see a bit of ginger that was Lily's hair. Lily Evans was asleep on his shoulder. The irony did not escape him.

He had begun the year arguing with her. He had begun the year not letting her speak two words without interrupting with a wisecrack. He had begun the year belittling and insulting her at every possible opportunity. And now she was asleep on his shoulder in the Ministry of Magic.

Well, there you go.

_"James_."

James woke with a start. He had been asleep—how long he did not know—but the weight on his right shoulder told him Lily was still unconscious. He straightened his glasses and saw Dumbledore standing over him, a subtle smile unable to hide itself beneath the headmaster's white beard.

"Good morning."

James's eyes widened. "How... how long have I been asleep?"

"That, I could not say with precision, but I would hazard to guess that it has not been long. Miss Clag was through here some half an hour ago, and you were both quite conscious then."

"Oh," was all James said. He glanced down at Lily. "Will we have to wake her up?"

Dumbledore looked sincerely regretful. "I am afraid so. The Ministry must have you memories."

"What d'you mean?"

"For examination. The Minister hopes to identify death eaters."

"Oh," James said again. "Alright... I guess it's okay." He sighed and looked down at Lily. "_Red_," he whispered. She stirred slightly. "Hey, Red. C'mon... wake up." He shook her shoulders a little awkwardly.

Lily groaned and opened her eyes. Seeing Dumbledore, she immediately started and sat up.

"Er... sorry, Professor," she murmured, biting her lip and blushing ever so slightly.

Dumbledore blinked innocently. "For what, Miss Evans?"

"Er..."

"Red," James interrupted before Lily's face turned into a tomato; "We have to give our memories to the Ministry for reviewing." While this accomplished the task of deterring the blush in Lily's cheeks from growing any darker, it also caused her to go paper white.

"Oh. Well. Alright." She looked uncertainly to Dumbledore. "_All_ of them?"

James, too, turned to the Headmaster. He had not thought of it until now, but there were some parts of the evening—primarily what had transpired in the office before their escape—that he would feel rather uncomfortable handing over to nameless Ministry workers for examination.

Meanwhile, another barely recognizable smile flitted briefly across the Dumbledore's aged face. "I believe," he said evenly; "all the Minister requires is the memories that pertain to any death eaters they may identify and implicate."

"Oh," said Lily and James.

"Indeed," said Dumbledore.

"Well, er... in that case..." James got to his feet, and Lily imitated the suit.

Dumbledore nodded and led them out of the antechamber.

* * *

"_Albus!"_

Lily and James noticeably jumped at the uncharacteristically high pitched voice of Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore seemed quite unsurprised, however, and quite calmly set down the empty inkwell that he had used for a portkey on the table of the staff room into which they had unexpectedly arrived.

"Good evening, Minerva. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say 'good morning,' in which case you may take the latter greeting instead." Professor McGonagall stared, dumbfounded, at the headmaster, so he pressed on. "I trust that your response indicated that you received my owl..."

"Well, yes, but..."

"And there have been no further developments?"

"No, Headmaster, but..."

"Very well. Where is Horace?"

"He agreed to spend the night in the Slytherin Common Room."

"Then Filius is with Ravenclaw?"

"Yes, and Pallas is with the Hufflepuffs."

"And in the Gryffindor Common Room?"

"There's an auror. I have been trying to run things here for the last four hours, Sir." There was a definite note of resentment in her voice.

"Yes, of course," said Dumbledore, evidently intent on ignoring her irritation. "I thought as much. In any case, now we will go up to my office." And that was that.

It was considerably past two o'clock in the morning as Lily and James followed their Professors up to the Headmaster's office. While Dumbledore related the gist of the story to the deputy Headmistress, the two students walked in exhaustion-induced silence. They had spent the last hour or so in a square office, not unlike that which may have earlier served as their death chamber, recollecting various incidents throughout the evening and transferring them into a pensieve. They also provided the memories—which were now almost entirely intact—from the first forest encounter, as well as details on Praedam and Silth. And owl had been dispatched to Professor Grossman "requesting" her presence the following afternoon so that _her_ memories may be examined and, if possible, repaired.

The Head Boy and Girl had been promised that this would be the end of their dealings with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in regards to the events of the year, but neither really believed this to be true. It was not a fact that they took offense at, but one they indifferently.

The party reached Dumbledore's office and he conjured two chairs for Lily and James. McGonagall professed a desire to stand, and the headmaster himself sat in his usual seat across the desk.

"I will not keep you long," he stated simply. "I know that you must both be tired and want nothing more than to return to your dormitories. There is little that remains to be said, but I believe it should be said tonight. At the beginning of this school year, you both were sent here by Professor Grossman for disciplinary purposes." Neither student met his eye as he said this. "I told you then that there was a hard year ahead of us all. I told you that we were in difficult and stressful times. I believe I was right on both of those accounts. However, I also believe that I was not entirely clear in communicating my meaning. I am not, as you may have gathered from what I said nine months ago, disappointed in you. On the contrary, I am quite proud of the both of you—of everything you have accomplished this year."

There was a moment of silence, broken by Lily's listless voice: "'Accomplished,' Professor? What did we accomplish?"

Dumbledore smiled enigmatically. "More than you know, Miss Evans." He paused again, and then went on. "I am sure you are both quite tired. You may go to bed now."

Lily and James got to feet and began to make for the door, but Lily stopped. James glanced curiously over his shoulder. "You—you go ahead," she said. "There's one last thing I want to talk to Professor McGonagall about."

James nodded reluctantly and exited the office. Lily turned back towards Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

"Professor," the Head Girl began slowly. "Professor, I was wondering if... I was wondering if you knew James and I were missing before Dumbledore sent you his owl."

Professor McGonagall appeared entirely thrown off by this question. "Well... yes. Yes, I did. The Heads of Houses took a quick census of their houses and it was discovered you were missing. There were aurors searching for you."

"We were the only ones missing?"

"No," admitted McGonagall. "No, there was one other."

Lily already knew who it was. "Severus Snape?"

"But how did you...?"

"Did you find Snape?"

"We did. He turned up later."

"What did he say?"

Professor McGonagall arched a thin eyebrow. "I really have no idea. It was Mr. Filch who found him wandering a corridor, and it would be no surprise to me if Argus sent him directly to the Slytherin Common Room without listening to a word he said."

"But as far as you know there was no message for you... nothing?"

McGonagall shook her head. "And may I enquire as to the meaning to this line of interrogation."

Lily turned to go. "I'm sure Professor Dumbledore would do a much better job explaining it." It had been a long night and somehow Lily did not feel afraid of getting into trouble for her mysterious nature. A sense of great disappointment filled the Head Girl as she descended the stair. She had been so _sure_...

She came to the bottom of the stairway and, as the griffin statue sealed the passage behind her, began to walk down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room.

"Well, that's the gratitude I get for waiting around I guess." Lily looked about quickly to see James getting up from where he had apparently been sitting on the floor on the other side of the door to Dumbledore's office.

"Oh," she said, visibly surprised. "You waited."

James nodded as he caught up with her. "I did. 'Thought I'd make sure you didn't get jumped on the way to the GCR."

"Did you just call the common room the 'GCR?'"

"Mhm."

"You are _so_ strange."

"Oh, you're welcome... really, no thanks were necessary for my being so unabashedly chivalrous."

"Fortunately."

James rolled his eyes, then yawned. "It has been a _really_ long night. And we have classes tomorrow."

Lily sent him a look. "I don't know about you, but _I'm_ not going to classes tomorrow. I'm not even sure about Tuesday yet."

"Lily Evans, you rebel."

"Are you kidding? I have to go to the hospital wing three times a day for a potion for my shoulder, and Madame Pomfrey's going to keep me there for an eternity in the morning anyway. I reckon I won't have a chance to be completely free until Wednesday."

"I don't believe I've ever known you till today, Red," James said with a mock sigh.

"I wouldn't doubt that."

They came to the portrait of The Fat Lady and simultaneously spouted the password ("Wrackspurt") to her. The Common Room was dark and quiet. Upon their entrance, a tall wizard who sat on one of the sofas immediately got to his feet.

"Who's there?"

"Lily Evans and James Potter," deadpanned the latter.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

James stepped forward, probably about to take serious action, but Lily intervened.

"Listen," she snapped, hands finding their usual spot on her hips; "I _am_ Lily Evans and he _is_ James Potter, and if you don't let us into our dormitories we are probably going to pass out right here, and you know what, after all we've gone through tonight, that seems _incredibly _unjust, so please just let us into our goddamned dormitories, or more than one of us may not live to see sunrise."

The auror did not seem to be afraid, so much as convinced. "All right—I suppose you're who you say you are. Dumbledore's owl did mention you would be arriving sometime in the next hour, and you knew the password."

He bowed slightly, and Lily and James walked towards the stairs. There, they paused.

"Well," said Lily, putting her hands in her pockets. "Good morning, I guess."

James grinned his signature crooked grin. "Good morning," he agreed.

Then, he departed up the stair towards the boys' dormitories, and she towards the girls'. And though Lily could not place what exactly it was, something seemed to be missing from the goodbye.

"Lily? Is that you?" whispered a voice from somewhere above her on the stair. Lily peered through the dark, only to see Redival Shelley approaching her.

"Oh... hello, Redival. Have you been up all this time?"

"No. I had Rachel conjure a bell that would ring once anyone came up the stair."

"Oh."

"Mhm. Do you know where James is?"

Lily considered lying, but decided against it. That would be rather childish, after all. "He's going to bed now, but he's really tired and..."

"Well that's fine for him, but I've been worried sick. I've simply_ got_ to speak to him." Redival hurried past Lily.

"If you say so," Lily said dully, continuing up the stairway herself. "Good morning, Redival." The Head Girl could hear Redival pause in her descent.

"Good _morning_? Don't you mean, 'goodnight?'"

But before Lily could answer, Redival had hurried on and reached the landing. The redhead resumed her walk upwards, but not before adding at a whisper: "Good_night_, Redival."

* * *

**Note:** Once upon a time, this was going to be the last chapter of the story, but once I got into the story more (especially that of the LJ love connection™) it became pretty obvious I needed more closure. Anyway, I'm SO sorry it took me so long to update. My life has been INSANE lately. There is a lot I don't like about this, but I _do _love one scene. Four words: "Give me your shoe." :-P. I love you all!

Oh, and _should _you leave me a review (which would be scrumtrilescent), I would be eternally grateful if you would help me out. There are just a couple of things I want to know, and since the story is almost over, I think it's an okay time to ask. So... if you find yourself lacking for words, feel free to tell me your: **favorite character **(canon or OC), **favorite OC**, **favorite chapter**, **favorite aspect, favorite scene, **and **least favorite of all of the above**. I am ever in your debt, but don't feel obligated to take the to answer the questions if you don't want to. Freestyle is great too :-P. Much love!

The fantabular anonymous reviewers: **a.j. **(thank you much for the lovely review! Hope you enjoy the rest of the story, and help yourself to virtual cookies!), **Jackie** (advice taken—much love!), **Annie** (thanks so much for R&Ring—love and cookies :-P), **Jas** (do they have computers in loonyville? If so, I hope you're reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks so much! Piping hot (what does that expression mean, anyway?) virtual cookies await you for your patience and insanity :-D), **klutzy tonks **(L/J action is on its way—honest! Thank you so _so_ much!), **batty** (yay for new readers! Thanks for the gorgeous review! I'm glad you like the story—yeah, I tend to be kinda critical for myself, but there are _some_ chapters I like... like 2 or three :-P), **tasz** (hey, love—thanks for reviewing as always! I've got lots of virtual cookies; what kind do you want? Sugar? Chocolate chip? Cinnamon? Gingerbread?), **CarynG **(thank you! I'm glad you think I did well with Voldemort. He's really, really difficult. Anyway, thank you again! Much love and cookies!), and **Karen** (FORGIVE ME, DEAREST! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!) I cannot write the swirly marks, so I will call swirly-mark **Sebastian.** Thank you, **Sebastian**.

And, of course, love to the logged-in-already-replied-to-reviewers!

Cheers,

Jewels


	26. Eleven and Everything

**Note**: Goodness gracious me! I had no idea it had been so long since my last update! I thought it had only been 2 weeks, until I checked and saw it was over a month. Gah! I'm so sorry, but this chapter was _really_, _really_ difficult. Give me blood and gore over romance any day :-P. Anyway, once this story is done, I hope you'll invest some interest in my future endeavors. If not, my little self-plug was pointless, but I still love you.

**History**: After 26 chapters, 25 disclaimers. I refuse to restate the obvious :-P

**Recap:** Lily and James escape their desperate situation. That's pretty much the sole prerequisite for reading this chap.

**Cookie Handouts:** I'm gonna get this done with now. Logged-In Peoples have their responses; love to **CookieCwen105 **(I fear thy wrath. I hope this works out for you :-P. Thank you so much for reviewing, and help yourself to virtual cookies!), **Annie S** (why, thank you! Glad you liked Dumbledore—he's hard to write! Love and cookies and I hope you enjoy this chapter!), **a.j.** (yes?), **s w e e tJOY** (thank-you a thousand times over for the review! I'm so glad you've enjoyed the story!),and of course **Karen** (girl, I love you. Do you have any idea how much influence you have over me? Here I am, writing this fun little story that I'm enjoying oh-so-much, and I check my e-mail, only to find this pitiful little review begging for me to update ITISNS. And then I'm so guilt-tripped that I just have to suck it up and finish the last damn chapter. Love and cookie, anyway:-P).

Dedicated to every single person who has left me reviews throughout the story!

**Chapter 26- "Eleven and Everything"**  
_ "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."_ (You only think it's from "Closing Time") –Seneca

Everything isn't ever okay," Mr. Evans always said. "You can only hope that some things are okay some of the time."

For as long as Lily could remember, that had been her father's response to the question that inevitably frequented the house when he stayed up late, usually staring at his typewriter and thinking. The phrase had become so ingrained in Lily's brain that she had never really thought about what it meant before. It was just the automatic reply that—though Lily herself never used it—played in her head whenever anyone asked: "Is everything okay?"

No, everything wasn't okay.

Some things were okay, but not everything.

This was a fact of which Lily was acutely aware as she walked to the Hospital Wing late Monday morning. She was not in her school uniform, and she honestly she thought it quite likely she would not make it to classes today. Her shoulder was hurting again, and if the pain was not quite so bad as it had been before Beatrice's treatment, it certainly still felt slept-on.

In addition, the fingernail on her left ring finger had broken much too close to the skin, a cut on her forehead had scabbed over and itched something terrible, her brain was positively throbbing, she was exhausted, and Redival Shelley had sent her a funny look when they had passed in the Common Room a few minutes earlier. Lily was not one to complain, but really: enough was enough.

It was not so much that Lily actually _cared_ that Redival Shelley had sent her a funny look or what Redival Shelley thought at all, but rather that the Head Girl could not for the life of her figure out what the look meant, and that did _not_ help her headache.

In the time it took Lily to walk from the Fat Lady's portrait to the prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor, she entertained the idea that Redival might be jealous of the apparent "connection" Lily held with Redival's boyfriend through the occurrences of the night before. By the time Lily reached the statue of the Boris the Bewildered, she had dismissed this idea as sheer idiocy. As she walked passed the Library, it occurred to Lily that perhaps Redival's funny look had meant to be one of inquiry, and in the space between Madame Pince's suspicious gaze and the fourth floor bathroom (some five steps away) Lily felt guilty for not having responded to the look. Between the bathroom and the large wooden door of the armor gallery, it was speculated that Redival had not actually intended to send her a funny look at all; perhaps she had merely been about to sneeze. As Lily reached the doubled doors of the infirmary, she was certain that this was not the case. There was definitely a funny look. It had been a full-fledged, indisputable, one-hundred percent intentional _funny_ look. No debate.

Lily pulled open one of the intimidating doors and entered the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was attending to someone in one of the beds in the far corner, so Lily stepped off to the side to wait her turn. The nurse glanced over her shoulder and straightened up, as if intentionally trying to obscure her patient from view, though this was entirely unnecessary as it was already accomplished.

"You needn't bother," said the mystery patient. "She already knows."

Lily recognized the voice almost immediately, but it was not until Madam Pomfrey somewhat reluctantly stepped away a moment later to reveal Remus Lupin that she matched the voice with a name.

"Drink the rest of that potion," Madam Pomfrey directed to Remus. "If you'll wait here, Miss Evans, I will be back in a moment." She hurried across the room into her office, and Lily began to meander in the general direction of Remus's cot. He looked terrible.

"How are you?" she asked earnestly.

"Been worse. Been better, but I've been worse."

Lily nodded. "So... do... do you remember everything from last night?"

Remus smiled mirthlessly, pushing his disorderly brown hair out of his face. Lily was immediately reminded of James. "No," he admitted with a sigh. "Not everything. A lot of it's kind of lost in a blur, but James was here earlier with Sirius and Peter... he told me mostly everything."

Strangely enough, Lily found that the fact that James had told the other Marauders about what had happened did not bother her as much as she might have expected. The hint that James had told Sirius about the first forest escapade had made her furious at the beginning of the year.

She reached the bed and looked carefully down at the Marauder. "How are you?" she asked earnestly.

Remus shrugged. "As well as can be expected, I guess. How are you?"

"Fine."

"Good." There was a brief silence before he continued. "Listen, Lily, I understand... I mean, I understand if this changes something between us. If you don't want to... talk to me or whatever anymore then... it's not like I'm gonna be really offended. Or at least, I won't be surprised. But, um... the point is, I want to apologize. I'm really sorry this happened." He waved a hand about vaguely.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You're serious?"

"Um..."

"I mean, do I really give off the impression of being someone who is going to give up one of my closest friends because he's got a little... problem?"

"Well, I know, but..."

"Don't interrupt, Lupin. I'm not even entirely sure what you're apologizing for. If it's for the almost-killing-me thing... well... alright, I forgive you. If it's for the lycanthropy situation, I really don't see how apologizing is going to make any difference whatsoever. So, before you go into anymore beautiful, pitiful, sorrowful speeches, please keep in mind that this is _me_ you're talking to, and you supposedly _know_ me, so there are some things that simply don't need to be said at all."

Lily finished and put her hands on her hips, shifting her weight. Remus's face, meanwhile, broke into a small, ironic sort of smile.

"In that case, I'm sorry again."

"Cheers."

"Cheers."

Madam Pomfrey now returned from her office, carrying a silver tray with several potion vials. She ordered for Lily to sit down on a cot. The Head Girl waited patiently (she did not have anything better to do, after all) while the nurse set each vial out in a deliberate order along the bedside table.

"Right to left," she instructed simply; "then after you've had a healthy drink of each of them, one more from the first."

"Thank-you," muttered Lily quietly, taking the first vial, which was about half-filled with a translucent purple liquid. She raised it to her lips and, with a slight nod to Remus, said yet again: "Cheers."

Remus grinned as Lily gulped each of the five potions in succession.

"Mr. Lupin," said Madam Pomfrey sternly; "you should be resting."

"I am very rested," Remus lied cheerfully. "I've been sleeping like a baby for the last... three hours."

"Two and half," corrected the nurse. "Now go to sleep."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Goodnight, Remus," Lily said with a smirk, as Madam Pomfrey pulled the curtains shut around his cot.

"Now," she said, her voice still as stern as ever as she looked down at Lily. "What about those bruises?"

"They've already been tended to," Lily insisted at once. "Last night... everything's fine. No big deal."

"Treated?" the older witch scoffed. "Only just. One minute; I'll be back with some things that will vanish those in about a minute."

Lily nodded in defeat; she knew Madam Pomfrey far too well to think she could talk her way out of further treatment. She was left alone again with Remus and was about to strike up another conversation with him, when the sound of the door opening distracted her. Lily looked over her shoulder curiously and saw James entering with Redival in tow.

"Oh," said the Head Girl in surprise. "It's you."

"Mhm." It was not James who replied, but Redival.

"Rem...er... I was told you'd already been by today," Lily added as if she had not heard, careful to keep her eyes locked on the Head Boy. Irritating Redival was just the sort of thing that would brighten this terrible morning.

"I was," James said with a nod, earning him a curious look from his girlfriend. "But Madam Pomfrey wasn't up yet, so I had to come back for my treatment or whatever."

"I see."

"Yeah."

"You didn't tell me you'd already been by," Redival muttered to James. She was apparently trying to prevent Lily from hearing.

"Sorry, it... it didn't occur to me." James seemed entirely bewildered by this line of enquiry. He was rescued (or perhaps it was Redival who was saved) from any further dialogue by the reentrance of Madam Pomfrey.

"My God, boy. You should have been by last night. I can't imagine what Professor Dumbledore was... well... never mind." She brought a small container over to Lily and placed it on table, beside the potion vials. "And you, Miss Shelley? What can I do for you?"

"Oh, nothing, I just came for James."

"You do not have class?"

"I got permission from Professor Slughorn to miss the first half hour."

"Well... alright, I suppose. Just apply that around the bruise on your forehead, Miss Evans. Yes, like that. Leave it on—I'll tell you when you can clean it off again. Now, Mr. Potter..." She turned to James and began to list off things the matter with the Head Boy, only half of which Lily noticed. Redival, meanwhile, came over and took a seat on the cot next to the Head Girl.

"Good morning, Lily," she said sweetly.

"Good morning, Redival," Lily replied, and she was reminded of their encounter the night before.

"How are you?" The sixth year seemed genuinely interested; Lily wondered how much _she_ knew of the night before.

"I'm okay, I guess. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine. But... um... the thing is, I'm kind of... _curious_."

"Curious? About what?"

"Well, um... last night. I mean, people have only been up for maybe two hours and I've already heard a thousand different rumors."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So... what _did_ happen last night?"

"Er... didn't... didn't James tell you yet?"

"Well, that's the thing, isn't it?" sighed Redival in an undertone. "I mean, he's being such a... a bloke, you know? Completely unhelpful. You know what they're like."

"Oh, I don't know," Lily said at once, in the coyest voice she could muster. "I haven't had a boyfriend in... five months. A girl forgets the trials and tribulations of a boyfriend after five months."

"A gift and a curse, I'm sure."

"But mostly a gift."

"I suppose so, but... do you think you could help me out? As a fellow sufferer of the male sex?"

"Well," Lily began hesitantly (thoroughly, inexplicably, vindictively enjoying herself), "I really think that's something James should tell you. I mean, I don't have any objections to telling you myself, but I really think he should be the one who... explains it to you. Y'know?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Redival muttered, sounding thoroughly dissatisfied with the answer. "But do you think...?"

"Hey, Redival," James interrupted suddenly from across the room. "It's nine thirty-five, so you should probably get..."

"Oh, shoot," sighed the blonde. "Alright... I _should_ go." She crossed the room to where James stood by the door and, standing on her toes, kissed him gently (though rather passionately) on the lips. He reciprocated appropriately (Lily looked away), and then—with a final, reluctant glance about the room—Redival departed.

"Your potions, Potter," Madam Pomfrey reminded the Head Boy pointedly. James took a long drink of his medicine, then set the bottles back onto the tray the nurse was holding. "And you may wipe off that paste now, Miss Evans." She tossed a towel to Lily, who caught it and cleaned off the bruises on her face. They began to diminish even as she did so.

"Is Remus awake?" James asked, as Madam Pomfrey returned to her office with the empty bottles. Lily nodded, and Remus—from his spot behind the curtains—replied loudly: "Yes!"

With a small smile, James made his way towards his friend's bed, and Lily followed at a short distance. The Head Boy pulled aside the curtains to be met by Remus's bored expression.

"Feeling any better?" James asked.

Remus shrugged. "I guess."

"Liar. And a bad one."

"Sod off. I'm a good liar when I want to be. You didn't even know I was... what I am... for two years."

"_One_ year."

"A year and a half."

"Fair enough."

"But I _did_ fool Lily for nearly seven years."

"Well that's no great feat. _Peter_ could have done that."

Lily stuck out her tongue at James. "You're a prat."

"You're a pest."

"You're a prick."

"You're a prude."

"You're a priss."

"You're a slag."

"Nice alliteration."

"Thanks."

"When you two are done," Remus interrupted, eyebrows raised knowingly.

"We're done," said Lily sophisticatedly.

"Totally done."

"Entirely done."

"Not even anywhere in the neighborhood of incomplete."

"Precisely."

"Exactly."

"Completely."

"Do you always have to have the last word, Red?"

"Yes."

Madam Pomfrey reentered the room once again. "Alright, you two may leave." She nodded to Lily and James. "I'll need you, Mr. Potter, to return every morning until I tell you the treatment is over. And you, Miss Evans, will have to return at your lunch break and in the evenings as well."

The Head Students nodded and, gathering that it was intended they do so from the look Madam Pomfrey sent them, crossed to the door. Lily added a thank-you over her shoulder, and James imitated her. They started towards the common room.

"So," began James at length, his voice now more serious than it had been in the infirmary; "I guess you talked to Remus about everything."

"Not really," Lily shrugged. "Just about his... issue."

James grinned a little. "His furry little problem."

"Yeah. How... how long have you known, then?"

"Since second year. Sirius and I figured it out."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

They took a few steps without speaking before Lily resurrected the conversation. "Listen... James... there's... it seems like we should say something... like there should be _something_ we need to say about last night and... wow, that sounded really racy, but... you know what I mean. Right?"

"Um..." He looked as if he was thinking very hard for something to justify what she was trying to communicate. "Not really, no."

Lily grinned and rolled her eyes slightly. "All I mean is... I feel like I should thank you or apologize or explain or..." They reached the Common Room.

"Hey, Red," James interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna go get some breakfast from the kitchens. Wanna come?"

For some period of time—between two seconds and twenty-years—Lily did not breath. James noticed her change of expression (she suddenly seemed very surprised) and quirked an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

"The matt... nothing. Nothing's the matter, I... I just... um... no. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm just... tired. I'm gonna..." she exhaled heavily. "I'm gonna go up to bed."

James nodded slowly. He might have appeared disappointed, but he seemed even more confused. "You sure?"

Lily nodded unsteadily.

"Alright. Well... alright. I'll... I'll see you around." He turned and disappeared down the corridor. Lily did not enter the common room. Instead, she leaned against the wall and slid down into a sitting position. She shut her eyes and, with one hand, massaged her head.

Eleven words... eleven utterly unromantic words... and suddenly...

Oh, God.

She liked James_  
_

* * *

Thursdays had always been good days for James. They came right before Friday and hailed the coming of the weekend. There was something so satisfying about them, as far as weekdays went. If you made it to Thursday, you would certainly make it to the weekend. Today was Thursday, and James was somewhat certain that it was a good day. He had mixed feelings, though.

It really _shouldn't_ have been good. It should have been dreadful. He should have, by right, felt terrible right now. If nothing else, he should have felt overwhelmingly guilty. He did feel a _little_ guilty, admittedly, but what guilt he did feel really did not seem proportionate to his crime, if it could be called that at all. He smirked a little at the thought of his crime. He should not really laugh. It was rude. But, still...

"Are you okay, Prongs?" Sirius asked of his best friend, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. "You just seem a little too... okay."

"God forbid," the Head Boy replied sardonically. "I don't see what the big deal is. This has happened to you about a thousand times."

"Right, but I'm Sirius. You're James."

"And he's Remus, and he's Peter. Do you have a point?"

Sirius shrugged. "I guess I just think it's weird that you're handling this so well."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Pads." They reached the Charms classroom and entered, taking seats towards the back. Professor Flitwick had not yet arrived.

Rachel Brossle took the seat next to Sirius that was not occupied by a Marauder. She looked superciliously around her boyfriend at the Head Boy. "James," she said coldly.

James winced, knowing what was coming. "Hullo, Rach."

"Did you break up with Redival?"

On second thought, he had not known what was coming. "No!" he said defensively. "Is that what she told you? _She_ broke up with _me_!"

"Well, yes, but you drove her to it!"

"Well no one forced her hand! Er... mouth. Whatever."

"_And_," continued Rachel, "you didn't protest at all!"

"I did _too_ protest! Sweetheart, if Redival's your source, she's lying. I protested for five whole minutes!"

"Five minutes?" scoffed the other. "Five minutes of protest is as good as not protesting at all! Merlin, you're heartless." She leaned back in her seat and glared angrily ahead. Flitwick entered the classroom, and Sirius sent James a "Sorry, Mate" look. James rolled his eyes and turned to Remus.

"It's what I deserve, I suppose," he whispered irritably. "For dating a girl, I mean."

"Fancy dating chaps, Prongs?"

"No, but you know what I mean. 'Dating an irrational, normal type girl."

"Ah, and an example of a rational, abnormal type girl is...?"

"Well, I don't know," James muttered, looking about the room for a suggestion. There was one very obvious one that stuck in his head, but he could not admit this to Remus, or his friend would gloat to no end. "Eden."

"Well, Eden's abnormal. I'll give you that."

"But with a girlfriend, you're supposed to _enjoy_ hanging out with them, right? It shouldn't be a chore!"

"I'm with you there, Prongs," Remus agreed quietly, "But most blokes would hardly find it a chore finding something to do with Redival Shelley."

"You sounded like Sirius."

"For which I'm eternally sorry. But, seriously, was it that bad? Being subjected to Redival?"

"It wasn't at first," James replied thoughtfully. "But it began to drag after a while. She's awfully... girly."

"Most birds are."

"Right, but there are _some_ that aren't so bad, right? The ones that actually care about something beyond clothes and make up and all that rubbish? That you can hang out with for long periods of time without ending up wanting to slit your wrists?"

"Sure," Remus said with a shrug. "About five."

"In our year?"

"On the planet."

"Thanks."

"I'm the honest one. If you want lies, talk to Sirius." Both glanced over at Sirius, who seemed thoroughly occupied with Rachel. James rolled his eyes again. "But, by some great coincidence, Prongs, one of those five birds is sitting in this room right now," Remus added.

"Yeah, but I don't much fancy dating Lexi. Anyway, she's with Montreal."

"You know I wasn't talking about Lexi." He gave the Head Boy a significant look. James threw a quill at him.

"You're such a girl, Lupin."

Even still, once Remus had begun to take notes, James allowed himself a glance in the general direction of several Gryffindor girls. Lily was exchanging a quick whisper with Eden, and whatever was being said, it caused the Head Girl to smile widely. James would have grinned himself, but he thought that Remus might notice.

Charms dragged on, and it seemed an eternity before the bell echoed through the halls, announcing the seventh years' freedom. The Marauders were the first ones to rush out of the classroom; they had their lunch hour next.

The Great Hall was noisy, as was usual during the lunch period. The Marauders took seats by themselves towards the end of the table closest to the Entrance Hall; Rachel had gone to join Redival in the girls' dormitory. Sirius, meanwhile, was surprisingly lacking an appetite. His lunch consisted only of two sandwiches and an apple.

"Do you realize," he began thoughtfully; "that we'll be finished with school a month from today." He took a drink of pumpkin juice. "That's weird."

"Bizarre," agreed Peter, who was not so peck-ish as his friend.

"We'll be adults," Remus added, with a shutter.

Sirius scoffed. "Speak for yourself. I'm eighteen. That's not adult."

"You can drink and you can apparate," Remus protested; "That counts."

"Sirius will never grow up," smirked James into his goblet of water. "It'd be too weird. Can you imagine him acting mature? Having kids?"

Remus laughed at the thought, and even Sirius grinned. "Not you, though, Prongs," Padfoot continued. "You'll be Minister of Magic by the time your thirty."

"If he doesn't get killed playing Quidditch first," Peter added.

"True enough. Here, pass that bowl this way." Remus handed a bowl to Sirius.

"Well, we don't _know_ we'll pass," Moony reminded them. "We might all fail N.E.W.T.s."

"Thanks, Moons," James replied, rolling his eyes. "Peter looks as if he'll wet himself now. Don't worry, Worms. You'll pass. Just make sure you sit next to Padfoot or me." He grinned and finished his pumpkin juice.

"Yeah," said Sirius heartily. "I bet there aren't really anti-cheating spells on the quills. They just tell you that to scare you into being honest."

"Seriously?" Peter gawked.

"Seriously," said Sirius, and Wormtail missed the wink he sent James.

Grinning, James shook his head. "You're such a bastard, Padfoot."

Sirius laughed, and Peter looked confused. James did not hear his enquiries about the meaning of the leading Marauders' exchange, however, because someone across the hall had caught his eye. Snape was getting up from the Slytherin Table. He slipped almost unnoticed out into the Entrance Hall. James stood from his own table very suddenly.

"What's up, Prongs?" Sirius asked curiously.

"I... uh just remembered something. I'll be right back." He disengaged himself from the bench and moved quickly out of the Hall. The Entrance Hall appeared empty at first, but after a moment, James spotted a slightly hunched figure hurrying up the marble staircase. "Snape!" he called at once.

The figure, now at the top of the stair, turned. He was, in fact, Snape. James hurried up to him, skipping steps. When they were on level ground (James was a good three inches taller), Snape spat: "Yes, _Potter_?"

"Why didn't you do what she asked?" James asked coldly.

"I don't know what..."

"Don't," the Head Boy interrupted. "Don't try to bull shit your way out of this one. Maybe that worked with the teachers; maybe it worked on Lily; it's not going to work on me. Why didn't you do what Lily asked in the forest last Sunday?"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Potter."

James did not seem to hear him at all. "She could have _died_, alright? You hate me? Fine. You don't care what happens to me? Whatever. It's not like I would expect you to. But _Lily_, Snape. How could you let her die?" He was not shouting. He was simply asking, his tone stingingly cold. Snape did not cower.

"Why should I care any more about her than I do you?"

James just shook his head, smirking mirthlessly. "_Please_. I've seen the way you look for ways to taunt her... at least that way you have an opportunity to talk to her, yeah? That's the only way she'll talk back to you. You wait in the library to see if she'll turn up and you can call her 'Mudblood' because that makes you feel better."

"Shut up. _Shut up_."

"_Why didn't you warn McGonagall about Lily_?"

"I don't have to answer to you."

"No, I guess you don't. I was just hoping there was something... some excuse you could give. 'Doesn't matter, I suppose. The way Lily sees it, you were willing to just let her die..."

In an instant, Snape had drawn his wand. "You so much as twitch towards your wand, Potter," he snapped, smiling coldly; "and you'll be taking a shortcut to the Whomping Willow. You think you're so smart. 'Think you know everything because I didn't tell McGonagall. Well get this straight, Potter, if you can't remember anything else. I don't care one bit about Evans. I _don't._ She may hate me because no one came to the rescue..." His voice was less steady and more spiteful here; "But she hates you as well. The difference between us is that I don't care, and you do." The Head Boy simply glared. "But take heart, Potter," Snape continued coolly a moment later; "She's just another mudblood."

James did not bother with a wand. Before Snape could so much as think an incantation, his fist had made contact with the Slytherin's jaw. Snape hit the banister of the stair and his wand slid through his fingers, rolling down the marble steps. Very calmly, James followed the path to the bottom landing. He reentered the Great Hall_  
_

* * *

Friday had finally come. The last week had seemed to last several months, rather than seven days, but it was Friday now, and for that, Lily was grateful. She noted this aloud, as she walked with Eden to Transfiguration early Friday afternoon. 

"It _has _been a long week," the blonde agree thoughtfully. "I mean, it was only a week ago that... well, I dunno. It just seems like everything's changing."

Lily knew this was certainly true for herself, but could not imagine how it was the case for her friend. "What's changed?" she asked, smiling a bit.

Eden hesitated before saying, in a surprisingly steady voice: "I broke up with Rian last night."

Lily stared. "Oh my Merlin! Are you serious?" Eden nodded. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Well," said the other slowly; "I ended it. I didn't mean to, I just... he walked up to me and kissed me on the cheek like he always does, and it seemed like the right thing to do. It's no big deal—we haven't been the same since... the Quidditch Final."

"Right, but... it's not wrong to... you can still be upset about it, E.

Eden shrugged. "I'm not." She sounded a little surprised herself. They were about halfway to the Transfiguration department before either girl spoke again. "This has been a _bad_ week for romance," Eden pointed out, as if she had been considering it all along. "First there was Lucy White and Gavin Sherlock on Monday..."

"Merlin... he's not going to put up 'Missing' signs for his heart again, is he?" groaned Lily.

"We can only hope not. Anyway, then there was James and Redival yesterday morning, Rian and me last night..."

"Alice Prewett and Leander Vireo after lunch on Friday," offered a voice from behind them. Both girls turned quickly, to see Alice catching up with them. She fell into pace, walking next to Lily. Redhead and blonde stared in amazement at her.

"You and Leander broke up?" Eden asked. It was not so much the shock of that idea, except that Alice sounded so off-handed about the whole thing.

"No," said Alice simply. "I broke up with him."

"You _dumped _him?" Lily gasped.

She nodded.

"Gorgeous," Eden stated; "I love you." She sidestepped Lily and gave her friend a quick hug. Alice laughed, and when Eden has resumed her place in the march, Lily slung an arm around the brunette's shoulders.

"Look at us," began the Head Girl. "All single at the same time for the first time since... when do you reckon?"

"It's been a while," Eden agreed. "Last year?"

"No," said Alice. "Lily was with Elijah straight last year when we were on our breaks with our blokes."

"Good job, Lily. Way to break the trend."

"Yeah, well, I was first to break up with my boyfriend this year, so I made up for it. It was you, Eden Dearborn, that was screwing things up this year by not going on any breaks with Rian."

"Sorry," Eden apologized. "I'll do better next time."

"Well I'm just as happy to be without a boyfriend," said Alice. "Who needs them, right? They cause trouble, get on your nerves, are _completely_ untrustworthy... what, I ask you, is the point?"

"Exactly," agreed Eden. "I agree one hundred percent, but you _know_ I'll have another one in two weeks. That's how I am. It's rotten luck."

"Poor you," Lily threw in sardonically. "In the mean time, we should form a club."

"We don't need a boyfriend to feel complete," Alice said, firmly. "That can be our club name."

"Yeah," pressed the Head Girl. "Besides, what's the point in dating during school? It's not as if you're going to get married."

"Precisely," said Eden. "It's purely damage control."

"Someone to complain to," sighed Alice.

"You never complained to Leander," the blonde pointed out.

"No, but theoretically, that's what boyfriends are for."

"If only they were as good in practice as they are in theory," Lily noted.

Lexi joined them. "What about practice and theory?"

"You can't speak to us," said Eden calmly. "You're not part of the club."

"Why not? What club? Why can't we join?"

"You can't join because you have a boyfriend," said Lily. "And we're the 'We Don't Need a Boyfriend to Feel Complete' Club."

"Sounds like a load of rubbish to me."

"Sod off. It's a lovely club."

"If you say so."

"We do."

"Alright. I say, what do you look so cheerful about, Alice?"

Eden began explaining the tragic romances of the week, but Lily did not pay this much attention. Gavin Sherlock—recently left with a broken heart by one Lucy White—was looking dismal as he walked with a group of significantly merrier group of friends. Lily was suddenly struck with inspiration. She excused herself from her own friends, then hurried up to the party of Hufflepuffs.

"Excuse me," she said boldly, tapping Gavin on the shoulder. He looked at her, confused. "Hi, Gavin."

"Er... hi, Lily." They knew each other's names, but not much else.

"Listen, Gavin, I don't mean to pry, but I know you and you're girlfriend just broke up, and I had a thought." He arched an eyebrow. "See I've got this friend..."

* * *

Lily slid into the seat next to Remus. It was breakfast on Saturday, and a whole day of absolute, blissful nothing was planned. Lily refused to start her homework until Sunday. "'Morning, Remus," the Head Girl said cheerfully to the Marauder. Sirius was sitting next to him, and Peter across, but James was nowhere to be found." 

"Hey, do you know where the elusive Head Boy is? There was a head meeting but he was a no-show."

"He's in detention," Sirius replied, spreading jam over a crumpet. "Knocked Snape one a couple of days ago. The git got sore, I s'pose and told."

"He socked Snape one? What for?"

"Does he _need_ a reason?" Peter snorted.

"That doesn't help, Worms," Remus said sharply. "I don't know what it was," he continued to Lily, "But he was in a rotten mood for the rest of the day. He's copying lines with McGonagall now."

Lily nodded. "Well that would explain why _neither_ of them showed. When does he get done?"

"He didn't know definitively," said Remus. "But probably around ten... depending on how quickly he writes."

"And on what sort of mood McGonagall is in," Sirius added. "Speaking of which, dearest Head Girl, we were sort of hoping you could help us out with the darling deputy headmistress."

Lily raised an eyebrow as she poured some pumpkin juice in an unused goblet. "What sort of help?"

"The Head Girlish type."

"More specifically?"

"The Letting-The-Seventh-Years-Into-Hogsmeade-Tonight type."

Lily grinned. "Since when have any of you lot been bashful about sneaking into Hogsmeade?"

"Well, never," Sirius admitted. "But there's some sort of celebration going on in the Leaky Cauldron tonight, and, while if worse comes to worst and McGonagall won't let us go, we Marauders won't object to a bit of sneaking about, the whole riot would be much more fun if some of the others from our year were about."

"So you want me to implore on your behalf to McGonagall..."

"And Dumbledore, if it comes to it."

"...And Dumbledore if it comes to it, so that the seventh years can go down to Hogsmeade tonight for a party in the Leaky Cauldron."

"Yeah, that's the gist," said Sirius cheerfully. "Though it might be better if you phrase it as a 'social gathering' or 'little get together.' 'Party' has a bad connotation."

"One of drunkenness and loose behavior, you mean."

"Generally, yeah."

"I'll see what I can do," Lily told him. "But you'll have to promise me none of you three will get intoxicated."

Sirius looked mortally offended, and Remus raised an eyebrow. "You think Sirius _won't_ get intoxicated?"

"Seriously!" Padfoot exclaimed. "That's completely unfair!"

Lily shrugged again. "Those are the terms."

"When did you become such a grown up?"

The Head Girl ignored this and said, smilingly: "Do you accept or reject?"

"Accept," muttered Sirius rebelliously.

"Accept," agreed Remus.

"Accept," said Peter.

"Alright then." She finished her pumpkin juice. "I'll go right after breakf..."

"Lily! Lily! Lily!"

Lily looked over her shoulder hastily. "What? What? What?" she asked. Eden pushed a sixth year girl out of the way and took the seat on Lily's other side.

"Lily, the _funniest_ thing just happened!"

"What?" Lily asked, uncertainly. Knowing Eden, 'the funniest thing' could be anything.

"Lexi—our rational, sober, level-headed Lexi—just walked in on the absolute _strangest_ couple, snogging each other senseless in an empty classroom."

The three Marauders groaned. "I hate gossip," said Sirius.

"I hate girls," said Peter.

After breakfast, Lily, true to her word, made her way up in the general direction of the Transfiguration department and Professor McGonagall's office. The Deputy Headmistress was not, however, in her office, nor in the Transfiguration classroom itself. Lily was not extremely disheartened by this, as it would be simple enough to speak with McGonagall before lunch hour. She did not take the route she had ascended in on her trek back downstairs, but lengthier one, with the vague idea of going for a walk.

The sixth floor corridor was one of Lily's favorite in the castle, because it was long and winding. She set off down it, having no particular destination in mind. About halfway through, however, a grey figure appeared not far down. The figure was stationary, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, and after a moment it became evident that the figure was none other than the formerly misplaced Head Boy.

He was just sitting there—elbows propped up against his knees, staring thoughtfully ahead. There was something strangely endearing about the sight, so, instead of continuing down the corridor, Lily walked up to him and folded her arms.

"And here they told me you were in detention."

James looked up quickly, evidently startled. "Lily!"

"James."

"I didn't see you coming."

"Mesmerized by the stone wall, right?"

"Something like that."

Lily nodded. "What happened to your detention? Don't tell me you're skiving off?"

"Nah, McGonagall had to go deal with something. She let me out ten minutes ago."

"I see. I was wondering why you weren't at the head meeting this morning."

James's eyes widened. "Oh, shit! I completely forgot!"

"It's okay. There wasn't anything interesting about it anyway." She stood there for a moment. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Just thinking," he replied with a shrug. "Seemed like a good place for it. You?"

"Looking for McGonagall."

"Or else you're stalking me."

"Well, right."

"In which case, you'll be happy to know that if you take about _three_ steps forward, I'll be able to see straight up your skirt."

Lily rolled her eyes. "James, you're an ass."

"Thanks, Red."

"You're welcome." Careful to keep her skirt close, Lily took a seat on the floor next to the Head Boy. "I heard you socked Snape." Her tone was not accusatory; she was simply stating fact.

James smirked ironically. "Yeah, I did. I know, I know. I'm the evilest git to ever walk the face of the earth and 'what did he ever do to me' and all that."

"No," said Lily, shaking her head. "No, you had a reason to knock him down this time. At least, I think you did."

"What do you mean 'you think I did?' You _know_ I did. You _know_ he didn't give McGonagall your message. It's as good as signing your death warrant!"

"Filch caught him. It's possible he was forced to go back to his Common Room and..." She broke off, noticing that James rolled his eyes. "I don't want to argue about this right now."

"Yeah, me either." He did not sound nearly as congenial as he had before.

Lily sighed. "Are you angry with me now?"

"No."

"Don't lie."

"I'm not lying."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I am."

"I know." There was a brief silence, then Lily added: "Are you angry now?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"How about now?"

"No, I guess not."

"I'm glad. I don't want you to be mad at me. And I don't want to be mad at you either, even though I usually am, and if I'm not, you're almost certainly mad at me. We're like a whole anger-fest of..."

"Anger."

"Exactly."

James nodded. "What were you looking for McGonagall for anyway?"

"Your friends wanted me to ask her to let the seventh years go to the village tonight."

"You got sucked into that scheme, did you?"

"Somehow, yeah."

"Sorry about that."

"Not at all. It's my own fault really. I came around looking for you and they just pulled me into their plots."

"Why were you looking for me?"

"You didn't show for the Head meeting, remember?"

"Oh..." James nodded.

"So, I... um... heard about Redival."

"Yeah."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really, no."

"Good. Me either."

James grinned and breathed heavily. "How's your shoulder? Better much?"

"I'm still on Potions, but only for another week. What about you? 'Haven't seen you around the infirmary much lately."

"I'm okay. Everything's healed by now."

"Good. I'm glad."

"_You're_ glad? You've got nothing on me."

"You're so childish."

"And an ass."

"And a chauvinist."

"And a secretive liar—just ask Redival. See, I've heard them all, Red. Don't challenge my knowledge on my own faults."

"I'm pretty sure I'd win, Egotistical Snot."

"Spoiled brat."

"Cheating slag."

"Perverted prick."

"Selfish pig."

"Immature prat."

"Noisy pest."

"Bullying toe rag."

Lily groaned. "That was mine. 'Should've thought of it."

"You did," James reminded her. "As you doubtless remember."

"Doubtless," agreed the other, biting her lip; then she added: "Sorry."

James shrugged. "It's okay. I deserved it, I guess. 'Probably deserved all the names."

"_Please_," scoffed Lily. "Self-deprecation is highly unattractive in you, James."

"Then my cockiness _is_ attractive?"

"I never said that."

"It was implied."

"I never implied it. I simply said that your self-deprecation was _un_attractive. That doesn't say anything about the rest of your attitude traits."

"But you obviously find the self-deprecation unattractive by comparison to some other trait. Just face it, love: you think I'm attractive. It's okay. I think I'm attractive, too. If I were a girl at this school, as a matter of fact, I would have a hell of a time keeping my hands off me."

"Thanks for the life-scarring image there, James."

"Any time. And for whatever it's worth, if I liked redheads, I would probably find you attractive."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You find me attractive, Potter. You were just trying to look up my skirt, remember?"

"I try to look a lot of girls' skirts."

"Only the ones you find attractive."

"Not true."

"Slag."

"Slut."

Lily made a face. "Stop dancing around the subject. I'm attractive. Fine. End of story. It's not like you're the first bloke to think it."

"I know that if I did, in fact, think it, I wouldn't be the first, but I don't think it, and therefore am not the first, second, twenty-third, or last."

"L-I-A-R."

"Lair?"

"I-A."

"Oh. Right. Wait... no, I'm not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not. And you know, cockiness is _not_ attractive in _you_."

"And yet," said Lily with a victorious smirk, "You still think I'm attractive. _Very_ attractive even."

"And how do you know this?"

"I can tell."

"Oh, okay. Yeah. Definitely."

"I _can_!"

"Something is seriously screwed up with your inner eye then, Lily, 'cause I am _not_ attracted to you."

"Are you saying I'm fat?"

James glared. "Don't go all Redival on me, now, Red."

"Only kidding," said Lily cheerfully.

"You don't have to kid."

"I thought I might. You looked despondent."

"I wasn't despondent. I was mildly dissatisfied."

"How come?"

"A thousand things."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright."

They sat for several minutes, basking in the silence and staring at the stone wall across from them. It was a rather unique wall, Lily reflected, for it looked as if Hagrid had become angry with it and beaten it repeatedly. One stone stuck out a little. It reminded the Head Girl rather of crooked teeth.

"Thank you," said the Head Boy at length.

"You're welcome," Lily replied. "Why?" she added, as an afterthought.

"I _was_ in a bad mood when I was sitting here by myself."

"Whatever I can do," said Lily, then she went on: "Why were you in a bad mood? If it's not prying to ask..."

"I don't know," shrugged James. "Everything just seemed wrong."

"Lots of stuff is wrong," Lily responded knowingly. "You've just got to fix what you can and put up with the rest."

James did not say anything for almost a full minute, but when he did speak, his voice was determined. "You're right," he said. "I should fix it."

"You should? I mean... yes. You should. Definitely."

"I should," agreed James. "So I'm... um... I'm going to go see Redival right now." He began to get up. This was _not_ what Lily had in mind.

"Wait, James..." She did not exactly have a plan after that, and so the next bit of dialogue was purely adlibbed. "Are you sure you want do fix _that_? I mean, won't it seem kind of desperate?"

"I don't care. Isn't there some sort of poem about loving knowing no shame?"

"You're saying you 'love' Redival?"

"I dunno." He began to rise again.

"Do you think she's still interested?" The Head Girl pressed hastily.

James paused for a moment to think, then said: "I don't know, but I've got to try, don't I?"

Once more, he started to push himself upward, but once more Lily stopped him. "James..." she said quickly, again without a clear idea of what would come next. He looked innocently over at her. Lily thought about smacking him—it would be highly satisfying—but sided against this in favor of the next best thing. She reached out, pulled his head down to hers, and kissed him.

It was not like his rather sad excuse for a kiss in the Ministry of Magic. It was full-fledged and entirely unchaste, which was perhaps why it took him less than a second to reciprocate.

Beyond that, little description is necessary.

Several years later, they broke apart.

They sat in that position for a moment longer, then James withdrew his hand from her neck where it had somehow found itself, and Lily also pulled back, fiddling awkwardly with her hair. They did not look at each other (at least, they pretended not to), but once again at the stone all across from them.

Then James spoke. "Want to hear a funny story?"

Lily nodded, exhaling. "Yeah. _Please_."

"Well," James went on, "at this moment, Redival Shelley is snogging the brains out of a Hufflepuff bloke, whose name escapes me at the moment, in the broom closet on the fourth floor."

It took the silence inside nearly a minute before the meaning of the words sunk in. Lily stared at him. "Then you never..."

"No."

"So you _knew_..."

"Yep."

There was another pause, then: "I hate you."

James grinned. "Uh-huh."

They sat in the quiet for a few more seconds. Lily spoke first this time. "Gavin Sherlock," she said simply.

James quirked an eyebrow at the Head Girl. "What?

"Gavin Sherlock," she repeated.

"Who is...?"

"Gavin Sherlock is the bloke Redival is snogging in the broom closet on the fourth floor at this moment."

It was James's turn to stare.

--

_One day earlier_

Lily excused herself from her own group of friends and hurried up to the party of Hufflepuffs. "Excuse me," she said boldly, tapping Gavin Sherlock on the shoulder. He looked at her, confused. "Hi, Gavin."

"Er... hi, Lily."

"Listen, Gavin, I don't mean to pry, but I know you and your girlfriend just broke up and I had a thought." He raised an eyebrow. "See, I've got this friend. You know Redival Shelley, don't you?"

"_Yeah_."

"Well, she would hate for me to be telling you this, of course, she's had this thing for you for _ages_, see, and now that she and Potter have finally broken up..."

--

_One hour earlier_

Eden slid into the seat next to the Head Girl. "Lily, the _funniest_ thing just happened!"

"What's that?"

"Lexi—our rational, sober, level-headed Lexi—just walked in on the absolute _strangest_ couple, snogging each other senseless in an empty classroom."

The three Marauders groaned. "I hate gossip," said Sirius.

"I hate girls," said Peter.

"Oh shut up, you two," snapped Eden. "We already know you both swing the other way... no need to flaunt."

"Ha, ha."

"_Anyway_," pressed the blonde. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted: Lexi."

"Yes, Lexi," agreed the Head Girl. "She walked in on someone..."

"Right. Okay, brace yourself: _Redival Shelley _and _Gavin Sherlock_."

Three forks—those of the present Marauders—hit three plates—belonging to the same—with a loud clatter. Lily did her best to appear surprised as well.

"I didn't know they even knew each other," Remus gaped.

"They don't," said Sirius. "That's the fastest rebound I've ever seen."

"Wait till James finds out," said Peter, taking a bite of crumpet.

"Oh, like he'll care," Padfoot snorted. "If anything, he'll be relieved. At least she won't be stalking him."

"What did Lexi do when she walked in on them?" Remus wanted to know.

Eden grinned. "She told them to get a closet."

--

James continued to stare. "So... _you_ knew... you knew that...? Did you?"

Lily was unable to restrain a small (an _infinitesimally _small) smile. "Did I know that Redival and Gavin had gotten together? Yes. Did I know you knew? I had a hunch."

James took a moment to contemplate this. At length, he stated: "You're worse than I am."

"Hate the game, not the player."

"But I feel so used!"

"You were trying to con me as well," Lily reminded him. "Is it my fault I'm better at this than you are?"

"You're not better."

"I am _way_ better."

"You had more recourses and more time."

"And I'm better."

"Yeah right."

"I am."

"You cower in the supreme glory that is my better-hood."

"Oh, okay."

"I detected a note of sarcasm."

"What do you want? A blue ribbon?"

They were all of an inch apart again, and James grinned. He got to his feet, and then began to make his way down the corridor. Lily watched him go, a bemused smile playing on her lips. "Where are you going?" she called after him.

"Kitchens. I'm starving."

Lily was, for a moment, left to debate what was intended by this action. James continued on, and when there was a short distance between the pair, the Head Boy turned halfway and looked at the Head Girl, still sitting on the stone floor.

"You coming?"

"I didn't know if I was invited."

James's signature, crooked grin was visible, even at a distance. "Yeah. If you want."

Smiling, Lily pushed herself up, straightened her uniform, and (at a rather lackadaisical pace) caught up with James. "So I guess there's a conversation we should probably have."

James nodded. They began to progress down the corridor. "Hey, Evans."

"Mhm?"

"Wanna go out with me?"

Lily nodded. "Sure."

"Okay."

He draped a lazy arm over her shoulders, and she slipped her arm around his waist. Because really, not much more conversation was needed.

"...And _yeah right_ you're not attracted to me."

And in all honesty, everything wasn't okay.

But it felt like it was.

The End.

* * *

And with that, dear readers, I bow out. 

Cheers,  
_Jewels_


End file.
